The release of today’s Non-Farm Payroll (NFP) data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics dealt a devastating blow to optimistic hopes for global growth. While ADP’s figure yesterday revealed a sharp uptick in private sector employment, today’s NFP report, coupled with an increase to the national unemployment rate to 9.2%, bodes ill for an economy struggling with its own structural deficits.
The NFP employment data was only the latest in a string of bearish reports. While it revealed the American economy had added 18,000 jobs this past month, it was significantly lower than forecasts for an addition of 97,000 jobs. The news has driven many traders into a risk averse mentality, driving safe haven investments higher ahead of the weekend.
President Barack Obama also commented this week that lawmakers in Congress still had not reached agreement for lifting the debt ceiling before the August 4 deadline. Growing concern that the US may default on its loans has done little to help the risk sensitive trading environment present in the market this summer.
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