“A key jobs report in the week ahead could drive the next big market move”
August 30, 2021
“…Stocks gained in the past week, surging again to new highs Friday after a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The chairman acknowledged that Fed officials expect to taper back their $120 billion a month bond-buying program this year, a first step toward reversing easy policy.
Powell was speaking at the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole, Wyo. symposium, held virtually this year. He said the Fed has seen sufficient progress on inflation, but the labor market has not yet improved enough to start the taper. Importantly, he also emphasized that the wind down of the bond program does not mean the Fed will automatically move on to raise interest rate hikes…
Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 750,000 jobs were created in August and the unemployment rate fell to 5.2%. In July, the economy created 943,000 jobs and unemployment slid to 5.4%. Education was a big contributor in July, with 261,000 jobs added in public schools and private education…”