Wall Street heads into a relatively quiet week for economic data, while the markets keep defying expectations. Here’s what’s happening this week…
A little good news on the economic front: The U.S. labor market is closing in on a notable milestone. Despite the higher cost of living weighing on many households, unemployment has remained below 5% for a near-record stretch. The benchmark was set in the mid-1960s. That resilience offers some perspective on an otherwise disappointing September jobs report. Employers added just 29,000 jobs, well below economists’ expectations of about 90,000 and the prior 12-month monthly average of 45,000. Revisions also reduced July employment from a gain of 21,000 to a loss of 10,000 and lowered August’s gain from 162,000 to 133,000, a combined reduction of 60,000 jobs. Even so, unemployment edged up only slightly, to 4.2% from 4.1%, while labor-force participation held steady at 61.8%. For investors, the takeaway is a cooling labor market, not yet a sudden collapse. *
Is Nike losing its mojo? Nike shares slid last week after the company reported weaker sales and signaled more job cuts in 2027. Fiscal first-quarter revenue fell 4% to $11.2 billion, while net income dipped 2% to $712 million. The pressure was concentrated in Greater China, partly offset by growth in North America. Nike now expects 2027 revenue to fall by a high-single-digit percentage. Shares were down about 6% at the end of last week and nearly 45% year to date. The planned cuts follow two earlier rounds of layoffs that eliminated 775 U.S. distribution jobs and about 1,400 mostly tech roles. **
Inflation stayed sticky in August, even after updated federal data showed prices hadn’t been rising quite as fast as previously reported. The Fed’s preferred gauge, the PCE price index, climbed 0.3% for the month and 3.4% from a year earlier, unchanged from July’s revised 3.4% rate. Higher fuel and energy costs tied to the war in Iran helped drive the monthly increase. Core PCE, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.2% and held at 3% annually for a third straight month. Consumers kept spending anyway: inflation-adjusted outlays jumped 0.6%, the strongest monthly gain in more than a year. The catch? Americans dipped further into savings, pushing the saving rate down to 4.1%, its lowest level in nearly four years. ***
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