The Quick & Dirty on the August Employment Report

Somewhere in the headlines of an unofficial, game-changing FOMC meeting (Jackson Hole), random musings of a prominent Fed guy that dented optimism of additional Fed accommodation (Bullard), the return of EU politicians to work that has messed up positive sentiment on the never-ending crisis, and chatter on how amazingly awesome the U.S. housing recovery is going, is the looming August employment report. Recall that hope was pumped back into the employment outlook amid the July reading, which was also used as a plank to support upside on July retail sales/consumer spending. However, beneath the surface of daily drama lays a bunch of actual news that investors should be paying to on the employment front. The fact that nobody cares until they are forced to care raises the disappointment risk heading into the August employment report; economists are unlikely to disseminate conservative outlooks following July's beat, and considering their strategist buddies inside the firm have bullish outlooks on benchmark indices for the remainder of the year. All I could say is…know these items below now. Jobless Claims • Claims at a one-month high. • Claims are coming in above consensus. • Prior week data is receiving upward revisions (slight). Chicago Fed-July • Contribution from employment indicators decreased from June. • Unemployment rate inched up month over month. Empire State Index-August • Headline below consensus. • Expectations were less optimistic. • Number of employees fell from July. Philly Fed-August • Headline below consensus. • Number of employees down month over month. • Number of employees the lowest since September 2009. • Expectations down month over month.