Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of February 11, 2020

Article Excerpt

Here are short answers to a couple of issues you may have wondered about lately. This economic statistic deserves a closer look. We look at lots of economic statistics, but rarely find any worth talking about. Most stats represent random fluctuations in economic data, without revealing any meaningful shift in economic trends. However, last Friday’s release of U.S. job market data for January may turn out to be something of an exception. The U.S. gained 225,000 jobs last month—far above the average economist’s guess of 158,000. Average hourly wages rose 3.1% from a year ago. That also beat the average guess of 3.0%. The jobless rate still rose from 3.5% to 3.6%, but that could be a good sign. That’s because more people entered or re-entered the job market and began looking for work. The strength in these stats is partly due to demographics. More and more baby boomers are reaching retirement age and leaving the workforce. This alone opens up job opportunities. In search…