In Search of the Perfect Investment

At 8:30 on the first Friday of every month we get unemployment stats.

They’re the most important stat to watch for your stock portfolio.

Today the numbers were superb. AS a result, the market is up strongly.

Here’s the news, as reported by CNBC this morning:

Nonfarm payrolls increase by 313,000 in February vs. 200,000 est.

+ Nonfarm payrolls rose by 313,000 in February while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent, the lowest since December 2000.

+ Wage growth was muted, however, with average hourly earnings up 2.6 percent on an annualized basis, 0.2 percentage points below expectations.

+ Stock market futures surged following the Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

The economy added 313,000 jobs in February, crushing expectations, while the unemployment rate remained at 4.1 percent, according to a Labor Department report Friday that could help quell inflation fears.

Economists surveyed by Reuters had been expecting nonfarm payroll growth of 200,000 and the unemployment rate to decline one-tenth of a percent to 4 percent.

An increase in the labor force participation rate to its highest level since September 2017 helped keep the headline unemployment number steady, as the number of those counted as not in the workforce tumbled by 653,000 to just over 95 million.

The total counted as “employed” in the household survey surged by 785,000 to a record 155.2 million. …

Construction jobs led the way, with 61,000 new positions, followed by retail and professional and business services (50,000 apiece), manufacturing (31,000) and financial activities (28,000). Health care added 19,000 while mining saw 9,000 new jobs….

Investors were watching the report closely not only for clues about job growth but also whether wage pressures were continuing to build. Wage growth came in less than expected, rising 0.1 percent for the month and 2.6 percent on an annualized basis.

The average work week rose by 0.1 hours to 34.5 hours.

The surge in job creation coming without an accompanying rise in wage pressures fits in well with the Wall Street hopes of a “Goldilocks” economy. …

The February report was the biggest beat against expectations since December 2009, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

What to do about your stocks?

Nothing. Sit tight. Enjoy the weekend.

How to invest $200,000, a reader asked.

My answer: Put $25,000 into each of these:

AAPL, NVDA, ADBE, CRM, FB, MSFT, BRKB, and SQ

Going away

+ Turn off your water, your heater, your icemaker and your water recirculator. Water damage can be extensive — even from the tiniest leak over time.

+ Check all your windows. Kids in an apartment in our New York building left the window open in sub-zero temperatures. The apartment was destroyed.

+ Check your emergency generators. Is it still working? Does it have fuel?

Useful stuff

+ Do not use AOL as your email provider. It keeps crashing and rejecting emails. I have a bunch of subscribers to this blog who, sadly, use AOL. Yesterday AOL crashed and no one received an email of my blog. If you missed it, click here.

Do yourself a favor. Sign up for GMAIL. It’s reliable and free.

+ Watch out for Verizon email, also.  My computer gurus tell me “Sometimes Verizon impose temporary delivery rate limits on messages sent from certain servers.” And they have no idea why.

+ Slingbox is the greatest invention since blue suede shoes. Well, not exactly. But Slingbox lets you watch TV remotely over the Internet. Mine works thus: I subscribe to Verizon FiOS in New York. If I’m traveling and I can’t get a certain channel (e.g. HBO), I simply dial up my New York Verizon FiOS through my Slingbox. I can also watch programs I’ve saved to Verizon’s video box.

+ Call your cable company and your cell phone provider and tell them you’re thinking of DirecTV, AT&T, T-Mobile, or whoever. Tell them you need faster Internet speed and a lower monthly bill. It’s fun to “negotiate.” This works especially well if you’re an old Time Warner customer and now a Spectrum customer. Spectrum is feeling very generous.

I thought this was funny.

Wonderful Jewish jokes

*Doctor: “You’ll live to be 60!”
Patient: “I AM 60!”
Doctor: “See! What did I tell you?”

*Patient: “I have a ringing in my ears.”
Doctor: “Don’t answer!”

*A drunk is in front of a judge. The judge says, “You’ve been brought here for drinking.”
The drunk says, “Okay, let’s get started.”

*Why do Jewish divorces cost so much? They’re worth it.

*Why do Jewish men die before their wives?
They want to.

*There is a big controversy on the Jewish view of when life begins.
In Jewish tradition, the fetus is not considered viable until it graduates from law school.

Q: Why don’t Jewish mothers drink?
A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.

A man called his mother in Florida . “Mom, how are you?” Not too good,” said the mother. “I’ve been very weak.”
The son asked, “Why are you so weak?”
She replied, “Because I haven’t eaten in 38 days.”
The son said,”That’s terrible. Why haven’t you eaten in 38 days?”
The mother answered, “Because, I didn’t want my mouth to be full in case you should call.”

Harry Newton, who has made a list of  his five most important Things To Do today. He promises to tackle the hardest one first. That one accomplished, he’ll be on a high for the rest of the day.