May’s jobs report significantly improved from April’s huge miss, though still fell short of expectations, with 559K new jobs being added to the economy versus 266K in April. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated the figure would come in at 675K.
The report helped the unemployment rate fall to 5.8% in May, from 6.1% in April. Within the report, average hourly earnings increased though the labor force shrank a bit. Frictions in the labor market are still evident with some workers hesitant to come back into the labor force from a mix of worries surrounding health, childcare, and losing unemployment benefits.
Initial jobless claims fell below 400K for the first time since the pandemic began, with the weekly figure coming in at 385K.
Meme stocks are back in the market’s psyche with AMC taking the reins again as the stock of the moment, gaining 22.66% on Tuesday and 95.22% on Wednesday before falling nearly 18% on Thursday.