#inflation-and-employment-data

#inflation-and-employment-data

'Walmart Worries' just keep multiplying. It's currently close to the highest level ever recorded which was during the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-09.

High energy prices are kryptonite for the housing market. Affordability, especially for those first-time home buyers, is now an elusive dream until oil prices come down and interest rates come down.

"Jobs may be a bit modest when we look out over the last couple of years, but pay is telling a different story - that there is still a little bit of tightness in this labor market," ADP chief economist Nela Richardson told reporters Wednesday morning.

"Oil prices are higher again this morning, but Treasury yields are lower as the risks to economic growth begin to take precedence over the risks to inflation," Oxford Economics said in a note on Monday.

The S&P 500 closed up approximately 2.4% near 6,496, while the Nasdaq Composite gained roughly 3.3% to around 21,475, indicating a strong market response to geopolitical news.

Escalating geopolitical risk continued to dominate global markets' concerns, with safe-haven demand keeping the dollar index anchored near a multi-week high.

The US dollar returned to the upside as geopolitical fears rebounded after US President Trump's address to the nation. The rhetoric fuelled risk aversion and flows toward the dollar while oil prices surged.

The Committee seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run. Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated. The implications of developments in the Middle East for the US economy are uncertain, the central bank said in a statement announcing its policy decision and referring to its Federal Open Market Committee.