European stocks drop even further based on weak US jobs data on Friday morning. As the benchmark FTSEEuroFirst 300 index dropped to 951.40 points, or 2.3 percent after the news, the drop before the data was released was 1.4 percent.
The US economy grew slowly more than ever with the nonfarm payroll being unchanged last month, the weakest data so far since September of last year. Meanwhile, economists were mildly optimistic before the data was out, expecting job increases to the tune of at least 75,000 jobs, as found by and reported in a Reuters survey.
The European stocks drop signaled an end to the biggest four-day rally on the Stoxx Europe 600 index just before the US jobs data was released. The biggest news is still to come, as the U.S. non-farm payrolls are released on Monday ahead of the long Labor Day weekend. Today’s number may well be negative, according to markets analysts. The number may remain above the 9 percent level, serving as a wake up call to the Federal Reserve that something ought to be done, and fast. The news comes ahead of President Obama’s speech at a joint session of Congress next Thursday, when the announced figure is likely to feature on the agenda.
President Obama has changed the schedule date for the big job speech to the American public by a day, shortly after House Speaker John Boehner asked for the postponement. The change in schedule for the big speech to proceed at a special joint session of Congress has had media speculating wildly about what happened and why, and the White House has been doing damage control ever since.
Speculation that Obama has caved in to Boehner’s pressure to postpone the jobs speech is being fought by White House staff, including Press Secretary Jay Carney. Carney said on the CBS News Radio program that the whole speculation thing was just a “sideshow”, and on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, he said, “Know what, that’s fine. Our interest is not having a political back-and-forth. Our interest is speaking to the people, speaking to Congress, about the need to do things to create jobs and get the economy going.”
That President Obama had picked the GOP Debate Night for his job speech was just a coincidence, as Carney insisted to reporters at his daily briefing on Wednesday. There was also no need for Obama to try and upstage the political debate, which would have served against his interest, according to other White House officials. A specific time has not yet been scheduled for the job speech, but White House officials have promised that it won’t conflict with another major event the same night, the NFL season-opener between the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers at 8:30 pm EDT.
