Chicago's Mortgage Choice - June 6, 2017 Real Estate Report - Cat and Mouse Game

For many years during and after the recession, the monthly jobs report was important to gauge the strength of the recovery. However, during the past two years, the release of the report has taken on a new meaning. Now we are not only measuring the strength of the economy, but also tying that information directly to actions by the Federal Reserve Board's Open Market Committee. If we added 250,000 jobs in a particular month five years ago, that was good news. But we did not have to worry about the Fed raising interest rates as a result of that information. Today, a strong report can lead us to direct action by the Fed. And so it is with the report which came out on Friday. The increase of jobs of 138,000 and the revision of last month's data was seen as weakness. However, the unemployment rate moved to 4.1%, another post-recession low, and monthly wage growth came in at forecast. The question at this point is -- are we approaching full employment, which means we are also experiencing a shortage of labor? This information, taken together with the previous month's report, tells us that there is still a decent chance that the Fed will act when they meet next week, but slightly less of a chance than before the report was released. The meeting will also be accompanied by the release of economic projections which will give us a gauge of where the Fed thinks that the economy is heading in the next several months. Keep in mind that the Fed will be considering other information which measure the strength of the economy. For example, on Tuesday last week, measures of personal income and spending for April came in with moderate strength following weak readings in March. Until the Fed meets next week, we can't say exactly how they will react, but certainly the data we saw last week give us some important clues. Keith Stewart 773-529-7000