Bond Funds Absorb Stock Market Shocks

The Friday payrolls report had something for everyone, it seems. The rise in the unemployment rate back to March’s 7.6% from 7.5% in April was either an indicator of faltering job creation or increased job seeking. The revisions to the prior two months sent the three-month average down substantially. But the bottom line is that in the face of continued job destruction on the government side of the ledger, private businesses are continuing to add workers—slowly yes, but surely. Since the job market turned around a little over three years ago, more than 6.3 million new jobs have been created. This morning we also saw jobless claims decline, which points to continued slow improvement in the employment picture. Read More »