April Jobs Report Could Have Big Impact On Stocks
The April jobs report is due out from the U.S. Labor Department on Friday. While economic statistics typically have a temporary effect on Wall Street before being shoved aside by whatever bit of news or data arrives a few days later, the April jobs number could be a bigger deal than usual. Recently, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. Following the announcement, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke held the first ever Fed press conference in which he laid out the Fed’s view of the U.S. economy. He suggested that the economic recovery is slowing. He didn’t use the word fragile, but plenty of people heard it anyway. He also suggested that inflation was tame and that any uptick was dwarfed by the greater potential for a slowdown in growth. Jobs Key to Economic Recovery Business spending has been measured, despite a tiny boom going on in Silicon Valley. Consumer spending has been whacked by not only by widespread job losses, but also by the housing market crash and subsequent collapse of the mortgage industry. Many homeowners have no equity left in their homes. Those that do are finding that terms for second mortgages are no better than the difficulties faced …