US Jobs! - 09/04/26

The latest U.S. jobs numbers are out—and apparently the labor market didn't get the memo that it was supposed to be slowing down!

The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, well above expectations, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. Even better, June and July payrolls were revised higher by a combined 55,000 jobs.

So...good news, right?

Well, this is Wall Street, where good economic news can quickly become bad news for the markets. 📈📉

A stronger labor market gives the Federal Reserve more flexibility to remain aggressive on inflation—and traders immediately increased their expectations for another potential interest-rate hike at the September FOMC meeting.

On today's TraderMerlin, we'll break down what the jobs report actually tells us and what it could mean for stocks, bonds and interest rates.

But that's just the beginning.

We'll also tackle some great viewer questions:

Leveraged ETFs – How do 2X and 3X ETFs actually work? Why does daily rebalancing matter, and why can their long-term performance look VERY different from simply multiplying the underlying asset's return? SpaceX Shares – Can you actually buy SpaceX stock? We'll look at the private-market options, risks and what investors need to understand before chasing "pre-IPO" shares. The Fed – Does today's employment report change the odds of another rate hike? The Week's Biggest Headlines – We'll wrap up the major stories moving stocks, bonds, commodities and crypto. One number traders should pay particular attention to is wage growth. Average hourly earnings increased 3.1% over the past year—important because wages, employment and inflation all feed into the Fed's decision-making process.

The question heading into September's Fed meeting is becoming pretty simple:

Is the economy strong enough for the Fed to raise rates again?

Today's jobs report certainly gives them more ammunition.