A job and resource fair hosted by the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board in partnership with NCWorks in Hendersonville, North Carolina, USA, on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
Allison Joyce | Bloomberg | Getty Images
This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open gives investors access to everything they need to know, wherever they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.
What you need to know today
Jobs exploded in December
US nonfarm payrolls an increase of 256,000 in December, up from 212,000 in November and above the 155,000 forecast from the Dow Jones consensus, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. The unemployment rate decreased to 4.1% from 4.2% in November. Economists expected the rate to remain at the same level in December.
US markets in the red for 2025
Markets in the US it fell on friday after the release of the jobs report expected in December. Major US indices are now in the red for 2025. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost 0.84%, with all major budgets close in negative range. Euro zone government bond yields rose to new multi-month highs.
Why Meta Had to 'Bend the Knee to Trump'
Meta at announced on Tuesday that it would scrap its third-party intelligence monitoring in an attempt to appease US president Donald Trump. Here's why Meta had to “bend the knee to Trump,” in the words of a former Facebook vice president. Separately, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed on Friday “The Joe Rogan Experience,” in which it is weariness Apple for useless innovation efforts.
Apple is losing market share in China
Apple shares slipped 2.4% after analyst Ming-Chi Kuo write on that Friday, in December, the company's company iPhone shipments fell in China around 10%-12% from a year earlier, compared to flat smartphone shipments overall. In addition, there is “no evidence” that Apple Intelligence is driving hardware upgrades or services revenue, according to Kuo.
TikTok could be banned in the US this week
The US Supreme Court on Friday heard oral arguments in the case related to the case the future of TikTok in the United States. The judges generally seemed to be indecisive with the main argument of TikTok that banning TikTok violates the free speech rights of millions of users in the US, which means the app could disappear from app stores as soon as this week.
(PRO) Inflation and bank earnings report for the week
The US consumer price index for December comes out on Wednesday. It indicates if it is inflationary pressures continue on the economy and markets, especially after non-farm payrolls for December came in very high. Big banks like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley earnings report in the second half of the week.
The bottom line
December job additions were 100,000 higher than expected by Dow Jones consensus estimates.
Investors worried that the Fed might remain hawkish in response to the hot labor market. The market probability of only one cut this year changed so far +68.5% compared to yesterday after the jobs report, according to the CME Group FedWatch Benchmark.
Bond yields, which had already risen in recent weeks, jumped further when the jobs report was released. The 10-Year Treasury Yield hit him the highest since November 2023.
The sell-off in the market following the release of the jobs report was swift and unexpected. The S&P 500 changed so far -1.54% compared to yesterday Dow Jones industrial average changed so far +1.63% compared to yesterday Nasdaq Composite lost by 1.63%. All major indices are now in negative territory for 2025.
Good news is bad news for investors, as the hackneyed saying goes.
But we should remember that conditions are different now than they were at the height of inflation.
The US Federal Reserve may be less concerned about a strong labor market this time around. On the other hand, the strong job growth may be reassuring, as concern about the level of employment is one of the reasons the Fed decided on jumbo. 50-point basis rate cut in September.
“You'll never hear me complain that we got 250,000 jobs,” Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on CNBC's “Squawk on the Street.” Goolsbee also noted that inflation over the past six months has been around 1.9%, or just below the Fed's target.
At times when inflation is lower, strong job numbers are a sign of a resilient economy.
And economic growth ultimately “means better earning potential, less risk of recession, and that's really going to dictate long-term returns versus sales in the stock market.” today,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial.
In other words, good news can be just good news, if investors look beyond the present.
— CNBC's Jeff Cox, Michael Santoli, Pia Singh and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
