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Friday is Jobs Day in America.
The all-important October jobs report is set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday morning, the final major economic data report before the presidential election.
The S&P 500 will also try to snap an 8-day losing streak, the benchmark index’s longest since the financial crisis.
Jobs, jobs, jobs
Via Bloomberg, here’s a quick overview at what Wall Street is expecting in Friday’s October jobs report:
Nonfarm payrolls: +175,000
Unemployment rate: 4.9%
Average hourly earnings, month-on-month: +0.3%
Average hourly earnings, year-on-year: +2.6%
Average weekly hours worked: 34.4
In 2016, average monthly job gains have totaled 179,000, down a bit from the 229,000 jobs the economy was adding each month in 2015.
Of course, all jobs reports are important, but Friday’s will take on added importance given that it comes just four days before the election.
If the report is bad, expect Republican nominee Donald Trump to seize on this as an example of why voters need to make a push for changes at the White House. A good report could see less chatter from politicians.
Stocks, falling
The S&P 500 has declined for eight days in a row, the longest streak since the financial crisis.
Of course, the financial crisis and ensuing stock decline followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, one of the largest investment banks in the country.
Today’s market decline is coming merely during a period in which markets lack direction.
And so a surprise jobs report could be a catalyst for a move in stocks, but with all of the focus squarely on Tuesday’s election, even the biggest economic event of the week could come and go without incident in markets.
Further reading
Starbucks (SBUX) earnings beat expectations (CNBC)
Thursday’s productivity report is at the core of our biggest economic question — are things good or bad? (Yahoo Finance)
Mexico’s government is working on a Trump contingency plan (Bloomberg)
The Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in 108 years. A lot of people watched. (Fox Sports)
Ben Bernanke reviews Sebastian Mallaby’s biography of Alan Greenspan (Brookings)
Elon Musk is worried about AI taking down the internet (Elon Musk)
Brexit’s got a problem (WSJ)
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Myles Udland is a writer at Yahoo Finance.