Let's Talk About the Economy

Jobs: January’s jobs report was released on Friday and came in better than expected, with US employers adding 467,000 jobs vs. the 125,000 predicted. The government also announced that it undercounted the number of jobs added in November and December by more than 700,000.

Markets: The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted their best week of 2022 last week. Also last week: 

• Amazon set the record for the biggest one-day gain in Wall Street history ($191 billion)
• Meta set the record for the biggest one-day drop in stock market history (more than $250 billion)

Supply chain issues. Any headway? Short answer: not really. Longer answer: maybe. From Europe to the US and China, production and transportation have stayed bogged down in the early days of 2022 by labor and parts shortages, in part because of the fast-spreading omicron variant, Supply Chain Brain reports. Models like the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index and Morgan Stanley’s Supply Chain Index indicate that issues may have peaked and could get better from here, while others like Citigroup’s are less optimistic.

Oil: US oil prices topped $90 a barrel last week for the first time since 2014. “The prevailing expectation is that the market, despite some downward blips caused by pandemic demand scares, will continue to trade high on oil as real supply shortages exist both in the short and long-term view,” Louise Dickson, senior oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy, told CNBC.

👀 Looking ahead... January's inflation report drops on Thursday.