The Markets Followed Through On Yesterday's Advance (Technically Speaking For 12/8)
0Today, the BLS released the latest JOLTs data : The number of job openings increased to 11.0 million on the last business day of October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Hires were little changed at 6.5 million and total separations edged down to 5.9 million. Within separations, the quits rate decreased to 2.8 percent following a series high in September. The layoffs and discharges rate was unchanged at 0.9 percent. This release includes estimates of the number and rate of job openings, hires, and separations for the total nonfarm sector, by industry, by four geographic regions, and by establishment size class. Here are two charts for the data from the FRED system: This chart is for the entire length of the series. Notice that total openings (in blue) is abnormally high. This chart is for five years. The quits and hires data is slightly elevated relative to pre-pandemic levels. This leads to a discussion about the "Great Resignation:" Around the world, millions of people are rethinking how they work and live — and how to better balance the two. The Great Resignation has U.S. workers quitting their jobs in record numbers — more than 24 million did so from April to September this year — and many are staying out of the labor force. Germany, Japan, and other wealthy nations are seeing shades of the same trend. The pandemic has taken a toll, with surveys showing an increase in feelings of burnout and a deterioration in mental health in many nations. But the pressure has been building in developed countries for decades. Incomes have stagnated, job security has become precarious, and the costs of housing and education have soared, leaving fewer young people able to build a financially stable life. The latest Chicago Fed Financial conditions index shows little to no stress: The risk (in blue) and leverage (in red) indexes are both at very low levels. Financial stress typically increases 12-18 months before a recession. Let's take a look at today's performance tables from Stockcharts.com: Today, the smaller caps led the advance. Larger caps posted either very small gains or made "fractional" advances. For the first time in some time, the XLC was in one of the top slots. Health care - a defensive sector - was the top performer. However, two other defensive sectors - utilities and staples - are at the bottom. Follow-through simply means that after making an important technical milestone, the averages continue to make progress. This is important because it indicates that activity underlying the milestone wasn't a one-day event. Today, the main averages I track followed through on yesterday's advances. QQQ 3-Month from Stockcharts.com We see it on the QQQ... IWM 3-Month from Stockcharts.com ... the IWM... SPY 3-Month from Stockcharts.com ... the SPY... DIA 3-month from Stockcharts.com ... and the DIA. Astute observers will note that today's bars are smaller than the precious days and also occurred on lower volume. Both these diminished the strength of today's activity but don't diminish the significance. Ideally, we'll see a further advance tomorrow.