Employment Situation
Thursday has four pieces of data scheduled for release, including one of the most important economic reports we get each month. In addition to the weekly unemployment update, June’s Employment report will also be released at 8:30 AM ET. This highly influential report will tell us June's unemployment rate, number of new payrolls added or lost and some earnings figures. These are considered to be extremely important employment sector readings and can have a huge impact on the financial markets. The ideal scenario for the bond market is rising unemployment, a decline in payrolls and soft earnings. Weaker than expected readings would likely help boost bond prices and lower mortgage rates Thursday. However, stronger numbers could be extremely detrimental to mortgage pricing. Analysts are expecting to see the unemployment rate hold at May’s 4.2% and approximately 120,000 jobs added to the economy last month, while earnings rose 0.3%. A higher unemployment rate, fewer new jobs and a smaller increase in earnings would be considered favorable news for rates.