Markets Mixed to End May; AFJ Index Stumbles

Inflation and debt ceiling concerns set markets roiling as trading session ended May 31, 2023. As April began, a Labor Department report showed that employers added 236,000 jobs in March. Economists polled by FactSet expected the addition of 240,000 jobs. The unemployment rate slipped to 3.5%, just...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Fastener Journal 2023-07, Vol.39 (4), p.20-21
Main Author: Crabtree, Margot
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earnings per share
Economic conditions
Inflation
Job openings
Labor
Manufacturing
Retail sales
Unemployment
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Summary:Inflation and debt ceiling concerns set markets roiling as trading session ended May 31, 2023. As April began, a Labor Department report showed that employers added 236,000 jobs in March. Economists polled by FactSet expected the addition of 240,000 jobs. The unemployment rate slipped to 3.5%, just above January's 3.4%, which was the lowest in 53 years. The department's monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey said that March's job openings fell to 9.9 million, from 10.6 million the month before; it was the lowest figure since May 2021. In April, that figure unexpectedly rose to 10.1 million; economists had expected job vacancies to fall below 9.5 million. The Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) report indicated that manufacturing activity slowed in March to the lowest point in almost three years, to 46.3 in March, from February's 47.7. ISM reported that all manufacturing subindices fell below the 50 threshold, which indicates contraction, for the first time since 2009.
ISSN:1064-3834