Market Reactions to the JOLTS Report

Stock Market Update Tuesday December 5, 2023 Market Reactions to the JOLTS Report The recent Labor Department report indicating a slip in domestic job openings to a 31-month low in October has elicited mixed responses in the stock market. This news encapsulated in the JOLTS report initially spurred a spike in the market followed by a retracement with the S&P 500 closing just below unchanged.

In the Treasury market both 2-year and 30-year yields decreased settling at 4.57% and 4.3% respectively marking a decline of 7 and 13 basis points over the day. WTI crude oil dropped below $73 a barrel and precious metals also experienced early losses with silver losing 1.5% compared to gold’s 1%. However both rallied later in the day ultimately losing 1% and 0.5% respectively. The gold mining sector showed only a slight weakness overall. Meanwhile the VIX an indicator of market volatility remained below 13.