Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Markets Stick to the Bright Side Despite Jobs Data

Investors are willing to buy stocks and sell bonds no matter how grim things look in the moment.

January 8, 2021 at 3:23 PM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Don’t worry, be happy.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

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December’s U.S. jobs report was widely expected to be the worst since April. When it turned out to be even more dire than forecast, markets barely flinched.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell in December by 140,000 from the previous month, Labor Department data showed Friday, a much steeper drop than the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey, which called for a gain of 50,000 jobs. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.7%, as did the labor force participation rate at 61.5%.