New York Stock Exchange, December Unemployment Rate Announcement... FOMC Minutes Also in Focus

This week (6th-10th), the New York Stock Exchange is anticipating the release of employment indicators such as the unemployment rate and job openings. Attention is focused on whether the slight rebound in the U.S. unemployment rate last November continued its upward trend.

On the 10th, the U.S. Department of Labor will announce the unemployment rate for December of last year. The U.S. unemployment rate fell from 4.3% in July to 4.1% in October last year but rose to 4.2% in November. If the unemployment rate unexpectedly jumps, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) may advance the timing of its interest rate cuts. The market expects an unemployment rate of 4.2%, similar to November.

On the 7th, the U.S. Department of Labor's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTs) report for November of last year will be released. JOLTs is a representative indicator for evaluating the U.S. labor market, meaning the number of job openings nationwide. The number of job openings and labor turnover in the U.S. hit a three-and-a-half-year low last September but showed improvement in October. Whether this trend continued through November is of interest.

Wall Street is also focusing on the minutes of the Fed's December Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which will be released on the 8th. At that time, the FOMC cut U.S. interest rates three times in a row after intense debate, but the forecast for the number of rate cuts this year was reduced from four to two. As Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said, the decision to cut rates was a