The big macro can cause big moves in the market. What does today's headline macro news mean for your portfolio?
What's happening: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' employment situation report for October showed that 80,000 net jobs were added to the economy during the month. Economists were expecting that the report would show 85,000 added. Private payrolls expanded by 104,000 versus the average estimate of 117,000.
In plain English, please: At first blush, the report looks pretty disappointing. As it was, expectations were for a relatively low number of new jobs considering the level of unemployment. Combine that with the fact that the numbers missed expectations and you have fodder for market disappointment.
However, a closer look reveals something a good deal more optimistic. When releasing monthly jobs data, the BLS also revises its previous months' numbers. In this report, it bumped up new jobs in August from 57,000 to 104,000 and in September from 103,000 to 158,000. To save you the trouble with the math, that's 102,000 additional jobs that we didn't think we had. Not bad!
Stocks to watch: Obviously, the employment picture has very broad implications for the economy as a whole as well as for many individual companies -- particularly those in the consumer space. However, to highlight one particular detail of the jobs report, the leisure and hospitality sector was noted as one of the stronger segments in the economy, as it added 22,000 jobs during the month. It could be worth checking in on companies like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) , International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT ) , Chipotle (NYSE: CMG ) , and Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN ) to see whether stronger hiring means brighter times ahead.
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