The major stock indexes are rallying on a better than expected unemployment number. Non-farm payrolls for the month of July dropped 247,000, less than consensus estimates of 300,000 and the actual unemployment figure dropped to 9.4% from 9.5%.
For a brief period there bad news was bad news but we are back to the expectations game where spin always wins. And many analysts believe we are in the midst of a bull market. Here is the lead of the Washington Post’s online story on the number: “Employers throttle back on layoffs, cutting 247,000 jobs— the fewest in a year. Showing offers strong signal that recession is finally ending.”
