The hurricane-battered economy rebounded strongly in October by adding 261,000 jobs, the maximum in more than a year and the best in the Trump administration. Though the addition was below the Wall Street expectation of 310,000, October marked the 85th straight month of job growth — the longest stretch of growth on record.
Job were added across the board with gains of 89,000 in restaurants, 50,000 in professional and business services, 24,000 in manufacturing and 22,000 in healthcare. Additionally, the Labor Department revised September’s job loss of 33,000 to a gain of 18,000. It also revised up August job gain from 169,000 to 208,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate ticked down from 4.2% to 4.1%, the lowest level since December 2000. However, wage growth disappointed with average hourly earnings off by a penny, taking year-over-year wage growth to 2.4%.
The solid job data has bolstered the case for a December rate hike and comes at a time when the Trump administration is pushing for a corporate-tax cut. Under Trump administration, the job market is expected to be the strongest given his promise to boost job growth. Notably, Trump promised to bring back manufacturing jobs from other countries and create 25 million jobs over 10 years.
As a result, investors should bet on stocks and ETFs that are the largest beneficiaries of job gains. Below, we have highlighted some of these that will likely see smooth trading in the days ahead.
ETFs to Consider
PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish Fund (UUP – Free Report)
An accelerating job market and the resultant improving economy will pull in more capital into the country and lead to appreciation of the U.S. dollar. UUP is the prime beneficiary of the rising dollar as it offers exposure against a basket of six world currencies. The fund allocates nearly 57.6% in euro and 25.5% collectively in Japanese yen and British pound. The fund has so far managed an asset base of $654.8 million while sees an average daily volume of around 1.1 million shares. It charges 80 bps in annual fees and has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 (Hold).
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