US Non Farm Payrolls seen as a big disappointment

– The August jobs
report was mostly a bomb, although analysts are working hard to find the
positives in the data. The non-farm measure missed expectations and the
back-month revision to the July data was severe (to +104K from +162K). 

Despite
the revisions, the US has averaged 183K jobs added per month over the past
year, and this report does not change the trajectory of slow, steady job
growth. Nevertheless the unemployment rate fell to 7.3% from 7.4%, raising the
very real possibility that it could hit 7% by year-end. 


Some suggest this
report could prompt the Fed to start to back away from the unemployment rate as
a major policy indicator. PIMCO’s Bill Gross said the Fed is still likely to
taper despite today’s data, perhaps on the order of $10B initially.

– Syria is the other
big subject this morning. With world leaders in St. Petersburg, Russia for the
G20, Russia President Putin and Barak Obama have a big stage to air their
opposing views of the situation. 


Just after the open, Putin stated that
Russia would help Syria if strikes are launched by the west; later he clarified
his remarks by saying Russia would merely continue its current level of support
for Syria, but in any case many participants blamed the equity declines
into negative territory on his remarks. 

President Obama dodged questions at a
press conference about what he would do if Congress voted against military
action, saying only that he would address the nation from the White House next
Tuesday on the issue.