Today’s Economic Shakers

U.S. launches missile strike against Syria, markets fall then rebound…

In a move that caught the markets off guard, the U.S. launched a missile strike against Syria in retaliation for that country’s use of nerve gas in a recent attack against anti-government rebels.

News of the U.S. attack, which highlighted the flurry of Tomahawk cruise missiles that struck inside Syria, triggered a global reaction resulting in a drop in the price of equities and commodities, though the majority of losses have since been recovered.

The US equity market saw a drop in stock index futures immediately following the report of the attack, with contracts in the S&P 500 index falling nearly 0.50%.

However, before the opening bell on Wall Street, futures contracts for the benchmark index had trimmed losses to 0.06%.

Gold shot up close to its 5-month high as investors pulled capital from higher-risk equities and placed it into the commodity, which is often used as a safe haven in times of economic uncertainty.

Gold held most of its gains before the bell, rising by just over 1% prior to Wall Street’s opening.

Meanwhile, the VIX, an index that is used as an indicator of market volatility, rose by nearly 10%, an indication that traders were piling into put options to hedge their equity bets.

The U.S. attack could end up influencing today’s meeting between Trump and China’s President, who are in the middle of a high-stakes summit to discuss trade, currency manipulation, and North Korea, among other sensitive and crucial matters.

The timing of the attack can be seen as a move by Trump to show China that it is ready to take military action when deemed essential by the current administration.

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U.S. jobs numbers come in lower than expected, adding fewer than 100,000 new jobs…

The Bureau of Labor reported its March nonfarm payroll data early on Friday morning, and the numbers fell below expectations, causing pre-market trading to fall slightly before the bell.The government data showed that US employers hired 98,000 nonfarm employees last month, which was a significant miss from analyst forecasts.

The data firm Bloomberg had predicted a bump in gains up to 180,000, based on its most recent economist survey.

According to the report from out of Washington, the unemployment numbers were positive, as the rate fell to 4.5%, the lowest levels since the crash of 2008. 

Additionally, the category of part-time workers who preferred full-time jobs saw a decrease down to 5.5 million, a decline of 151,000.

The report showed that there was a gain of 11,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector, while the retail sector, in an extended slump, saw a decline of nearly 30,000 jobs in March.

Data regarding the retail sector also showed that the downward trend is likely to continue, as department stores are on track to close as many as 3,500 stores in the near term.

The main source of decline in retail department stores has been the competition from online businesses, which reported an increase of over 2,000 jobs for the month of March.