Free Republic

The US is experencing a slow down. The massive Federal government and Federal Reserve Covid stimulus has worn out and we are left with a sagging jobs report and soaring credit card delinquencies. After ADP’s reports printed almost perfectly in line with BLS last month (+177k vs +187k), all eyes are on today’s print, which was expected to decline to +150k. Instead it plunged to just +89k – that is the lowest jobs addition since Jan 2021. Credit Card Delinquency rates at small banks have reached 7.51%, the highest level ever recorded.

The US economy added 336,000 jobs in September — a surprising surge that raises the risk that the Federal Reserve will further tighten interest rates to tamp down inflation. The blowout number was nearly double the 170,000 jobs economists had expected, and marks a sharp increase from the 187,000 jobs gained in August, according to fresh data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. The report also showed that wages increases were smaller than expected and the unemployment held steady at 3.8% — slightly above the 3.7% forecast and even with the jobless rate in August, which had...