financetom
Economy
financetom
/
Economy
/
Weaker-Than-Expected Job Market 'Could Pave Way' For Fed Rate Cut of 0.5%: Economist
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Weaker-Than-Expected Job Market 'Could Pave Way' For Fed Rate Cut of 0.5%: Economist
Aug 22, 2024 3:21 AM

The Federal Reserve has every reason to cut interest rates at its next meeting in September since the U.S. revised its jobs report, according to economists.

“A weaker-than-expected job market could pave the way for the Fed to cut by a half percentage point in September,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial.

The Fed can effectively temper wage pressures and, consequently, inflation when job growth slows.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised job growth between March 2023 and March 2024 down a cumulative 818,000 in benchmark revisions released on Wednesday.

Roach said the industries with the largest negative revisions were the professional services and hospitality sectors, while transportation and warehousing industries are expected to be revised higher.

“It's not surprising that the Leisure and Hospitality sector is the most volatile,” he said. “The revision implies job growth in the year through July was closer to 164,000 than the 209,000 recorded in the August 2 release of the July jobs report.”

Read Now: Retail Sales Soar In July, Weekly Jobless Claims Undercut Expectations: Traders Lean Towards 25-Basis-Point Cut In September

The revised jobs report showed that the job market is weak across the U.S., not in just isolated pockets, said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank.

“It showed the month's weak job growth wasn't just in Texas, where Hurricane Beryl caused huge disruptions to the economy of metro Houston and surrounding areas,” he said.

“Employment also fell in Missouri, and unemployment rose in a number of states on the Eastern seaboard, the Midwest, and the High Plains.”

As such, Comerica expects the Fed to lower interest rates by a full percentage point between now and the end of January 2024 by cutting them by a quarter percentage at the September, November, December, and January meetings.

“Financial markets price in the Fed cutting interest rates by somewhat more than that between now and January,” he said.

The revised jobs report does not take away that the U.S. economy is still doing pretty well, said Robert Frick, corporate economist with the Navy Federal Credit Union.

"The revisions aren't a shock, given the estimates were for one million fewer jobs," he said in a note obtained by Bloomberg. "This doesn't challenge the idea we're still in an expansion, but it does signal we should expect monthly job growth to be more muted and put extra pressure on the Fed to cut rates."

Read Now:

Survey: Politics Could Lead Many Younger Workers To Quit Jobs

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
Goldman Sachs lowers odds of US recession to 20% from 25%
Goldman Sachs lowers odds of US recession to 20% from 25%
Aug 18, 2024
(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has lowered the odds of the United States slipping into a recession in the next 12 months to 20% from 25% following the latest weekly jobless claims and retail sales reports. Earlier this month, the brokerage raised the odds of a U.S. recession from 15% after the unemployment rate jumped to a three-year high in July,...
Goldman Sachs Cuts US Recession Odds To 20%, Reverses Earlier Increase As Economic Data Improves
Goldman Sachs Cuts US Recession Odds To 20%, Reverses Earlier Increase As Economic Data Improves
Aug 19, 2024
Goldman Sachs has revised its U.S. recession forecast, reducing the probability of a recession within the next 12 months to 20%. This revision comes just two weeks after the investment bank increased the odds from 15% to 25% following a weaker-than-expected July jobs report. In a note authored by economist Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs highlighted that “the data for July...
Fed's pandemic-era vow to prioritize employment may soon be tested
Fed's pandemic-era vow to prioritize employment may soon be tested
Aug 19, 2024
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four years after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made fighting unemployment a bigger priority during the COVID-19 pandemic, he faces a pivotal test of that commitment amid rising joblessness, mounting evidence inflation is under control, and a benchmark interest rate that is still the highest in a quarter of a century. High interest rates may be on...
US Dollar Falls Early Monday; Focus on Home Sales, FOMC Minutes, Powell at Jackson Hole
US Dollar Falls Early Monday; Focus on Home Sales, FOMC Minutes, Powell at Jackson Hole
Aug 19, 2024
07:40 AM EDT, 08/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US dollar declined against its major trading partners early Monday as attention this week turns to home sales data and comments from Federal Reserve officials. The week starts Monday with an appearance by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller at 9:15 am ET and leading indicators data for July at 10:00 am ET....
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved