by Brian Maher
Daily Reckoning
The July unemployment report came out yesterday. And the news was smashingly good — unless you’re a cynic (realist?) who slaps an automatic discount on any sunny government report.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that July payrolls swelled by 255,000 jobs. That number outshined even the sunniest Wall Street forecast of 180,000 jobs.
BLS bean counters also revised the June employment numbers upward, from 287,000 jobs to 292,000. Labor force participation even ticked higher. Official unemployment hums along at a nice and pretty 4.9%.
“This was everything you could have asked for, maybe more,” gushed Michelle Meyer, head of U. S. economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.