This is the day we’ve been waiting for weeks – the jobs report.  It is always important; in fact, the report has become even more significant after the Federal Reserve skipped a golden opportunity to hike interest rates.  The Fed’s excuse about the global economy was flimsy, amplifying subsequent economic reports, many of which have come up short of expectations.  However,  there have been some bright spots where the Fed has to sit up and acknowledge.

Construction continues to be a bright spot that could get even better, particularly on the single-family construction side as the demand mounts.  The total construction spending in August rose to $1,086,224 billion,+0.7 percent month-to-month and a +13.7 percent from a year earlier.   The better news is that the bulk of spending came from residential spending.

Private residential spending rose to  $389,942 billion in projects; a 1.3 percent month-to-month, compared to a 16.4 pecent from a year earlier.  It was the highest tally since January 2008, and more than likely, it could have been even better if there wasn’t a worker shortage.

That being said, it still is about apartments, which continue to boom.

• Single-Home +0.7%
• Apartment +4.8%

Moreover, auto sales continue to defy calls for a peak, now hovering at a 18.17 percent annual rate, which is the best since July 2005. And granted, there were not zero-percent interest rates, but it’s an impressive number nonetheless.

Today’s Session

In a word, this morning’s employment report was an unmitigated disaster.

• 142,000 Jobs September
• 136,000 Jobs August
• 350,000 left labor force in September
• Hours worked lower
• Hourly wages down
• 9,000 decline in manufacturing jobs
• FY15 Monthly average 198,000
• FY14 Monthly average 260,000
• 3-Month average 167,000

The bad news is bad news and there’s nothing that can be done other than call for early elections like any smart and civilized democracy would consider.  Instead, the main stream media will tout there was employment growth, ignoring how flimsy it was in total numbers and quality of jobs.

I don’t want to panic.  We put on a couple of hedges recently, TLT and Gold, but this is a horrible development.