The headline 'Jobs Number' came in better than expected at an adjusted +252,000.
And the Unemployment Rate fell more than expected to 5.6%.
Yay us! We win again!
Why weren't stocks rallying with these glorious numbers?
Perhaps the market noticed that average wages fell much more than expected, and the Labor Participation Rate continues to decline.
Well beat us with a selfie stick. What does that mean?
Perhaps it means, like the accounting numbers of IPOs being puked out by Wall Street, that the results are 'tailored' misrepresentations of reality. In other words that a Holden Caulfield might have used, The Recovery™ is a phony.
Gold has marched up tightly into overhead resistance as can be seen from the chart below. As is often the custom with a Non-Farm Payrolls number that exceed expectations, gold did not drop, but went a bit higher.
It is the next week that will now be much more important. The wiseguys will often trot out a two-step, rather than the simpler smash and grab, when we have too many amateurs anticipating a move in some particular way.
But let's not guess. Let's see what happens next week. Follow through is everything, and breaking the continuing downtrend of lower highs and lower lows is the only way in which one might say that the trend is broken and the bottom is in on this long bear market in precious metals.
There was nothing important happening at the Comex warehouses or in the delivery report, which is not unusual since we are in an inactive month. This is opposed to an active month, in which there is a great appearance of activity, but little or nothing actually happens either.
The news came out today that Mitt Romney wants to take another run for President in 2016 because he doesn't think Jeb Bush or Chris Christie can win. Darn, I was hoping for another battle of the dynasties in 2016. Or competing crime families, but that might just be a given these days.
Samuel Beckett couldn't write this Théâtre de l'Absurde.
Have a pleasant weekend.
