Wall Street Rocked by Disappointing May Jobs Report
June 30th, 2011Analysts are anticipating volatility on Wall Street in the upcoming week, as investors come to grips with Friday’s dismal jobs report which noted that only 54,000 jobs were created in the month of May as compared to April’s figure of 232,000. This came as a huge disappointment to economists who have estimated that the economy needs to add around 150,000 jobs each month purely to keep up with population growth. Jobs over and above that figure would be addressing the problem of job losses. While economists were not expecting to repeat April’s figure and were aiming for 170,000 jobs in May, the figure of 54,000 came as a shock to all, sending stocks plunging, and causing economists to make major adjustments in their growth projections.
Statistics also revealed that the number of Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months climbed by 361,000, with the average number of weeks of unemployment reaching just under 40 weeks and the number of unemployed hitting 13.9 million, the highest it’s been this year. It’s become clear that many employers have put the brakes on hiring, as consumer dollars are being committed to increased prices of food, gas and other essential commodities, leaving little disposable income for non-essential goods.
Tags: Jobs Report, Report, Wall Street
Canadian National Railway (CNI), which I first wrote about on July 30, 2009, at a price of $47.95, is making a bee-line to $80, and if you haven’t already, now may be a good time to consider taking some profits with CNI if you’re in near $48.
Zipcar Inc., the car-sharing company that rents rides for as little as an hour, is expected to get a warm reception from Wall Street for its planned initial public offering this week.