Morning Jolt: What Happened Yesterday in the Stock Market

WITH JIM GERAGHTY

August 06 2024

What Happened Yesterday in the Stock Market

This is Dominic Pino filling in for Jim Geraghty. I'll be turning the Jolt over to Noah Rothman tomorrow.

On the menu today: What happened in the stock market yesterday, which caused one of the biggest sell-offs in recent memory. It didn't have anything to do with American politics and had less to do with the American economy than you might think.

What Happened

The July U.S. jobs report was not great. Job gains were only 114,000 for the month, less than expected, and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, up from 4.1 percent in June.

But you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who seriously believes that 4.3 percent unemployment is cause for recession fears. For decades, an unemployment rate around 4 percent was considered full employment. The U.S. has had an unusually low unemployment rate for the past two years.

The uptick in the unemployment rate does not undo other economic indicators. Just before the jobs report, on July 25 ...

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