Women secured 95% of the net jobs added in December and for the second time in US history women make up over 50% of the workforce. This figure is for payroll jobs that excludes farm workers and self employed individuals. During the great recession men were handed ‘pink slips’ before women and there was a brief moment where more women were employed than men and it was promptly dubbed a ‘mancession’. This time the trend is likely to continue. Manufacturing jobs are declining, health care jobs are increasing (women hold 75% of all healthcare jobs) and women are achieving education at a significantly higher rate.
Rates & the 10 Year US Treasury Yield fluctuated widely this week in response to global political tension with Iran. Yields ended basically where they started this week and the 3 month trend line is flattening out.
Jobs – unemployment figures stayed relatively flat from the previous report but weekly earnings (total take home $’s) or wage inflation dropped sharply on an annual basis from 3.1% – 2.3% which is a softening in inflation (good for mortgage rates). Next month will show if this is simply a holiday anomaly.
Juice? – the stock market continues to hit record highs and has performed very well since the Fed started injecting liquidity into their balance sheet. They originally mentioned this would be a temporary measure of maybe 6 months. if this drops off it will likely cause volatility.
Appreciation – year over year values are up 3.7% which is 0.2% increase from last year and the largest gain in nearly a year. Core Logic is predicting a strong 5.3% gain over the next 12 months. This translates into a $350,000 home increasing to $368,550 over a year.