The Jobs Are The Thing

Leaving behind a period of indecision, markets went off in their own special ways like a string of firecrackers after the U.S. Labor Department reported the U.S. economy created 240,000 jobs in September with the August numbers being revised upward, as well.

But all the clocks in the city Began to whirr and chime: 'O let not Time deceive you, You cannot conquer Time.

Equities rallied fiercely, although they still are in for a weekly loss. Investors were reassured that the American economy was on a good strong perk.

The news sent the dollar soaring up over 1.00%, which as you know, sent gold and silver down dramatically. (Of the precious metals, platinum took it the hardest today, off more than 3.5% in late afternoon trading.)

Crude closes on the day under $90 per barrel, reaching a 17-month low, while Brent North Sea oil is eyeing the $90 per barrel mark itself.

The only market that didn't move much was the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasuries, which is up a scant 0.002.

The question now becomes: what will happen Monday? Will bargain hunters step in and bid gold and silver back up, or will the momentum carry us further down? There will be dip buyers. How many and how rich they are remains to be seen.

The chugging U.S. economy and the sluggish European and Chinese engines are beginning to tell us something about strong interventionist moves.

Can the U.S. significantly grow its way out of debt?

As we have for months and months, we're still betting that the Fed keeps interest rates low. The downside to the labor report is that wage growth, especially when correlated with inflation, is idling in neutral.

"It's great to have the headline job growth number, but there's still slack," said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp. in Birmingham, AL. The wage reading "fits right into how the Fed sees things -- we're making progress but there's still a long way to go."

As always, wishing you good trading,

Gary S. Wagner - Executive Producer