By Charles Payne, CEO & Principal Analyst
I knew the fix was in with the employment data. If the report missed then we could blame the weather, but the report beat consensus and now we are running around like it’s the dawn of a new day. For the stock market, it could be the dawn of a new rally but there is still disconnect between Main Street and Wall Street. Here’s the deal, at some point everything has to hit terra firma. Housing has to find a bottom, jobs have to find a bottom and there is a mountain of cash that will seek returns at some point. Although things are better, the country continues to lose jobs. This morning on Varney & Co on FBN former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said we need 200,000 jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.
I’d always thought that number was less but the point is even if we hit the White House projected average of 95,000 jobs a month it wouldn’t be enough to minimize the unemployment rate and misery. Such a reversal of trend however could be a boon for the stock market. I must also say that we must crawl before we walk but at this stage of the cycle the economy should be doing a lot better. I still think there is time for the administration to ditch the rhetoric and grand schemes on healthcare, cap and trade, punitive bank legislation etc. They say jobs are “now” the focus but they seem satisfied with just making year over year comparisons. On Wall Street, such analysis is known as “easy” on Main Street it’s known as “a cop out”.
The Dow is lifting off the 20-day moving average – a very bullish sign.
Charles Payne is the CEO and Principal Analyst of Wall Street Strategies . This post was republished from his company’s column, WStreet Market Commentary.
