The Tail May Begin to Wag the Dog

After the jobs report today showed better than expected results in both initial claims and continuing claims, the labor tail may finally be wagging the stock market dog. It’s common knowledge that the labor market data is a lagging indicator, typically showing improvement only after 9-12 months AFTER the economy starts to grow. And there is no doubt that we need much higher job growth to keep the unemployment rate down, or even reduce it. But today’s news was good news and I for one will celebrate, at least for one night.