Phil Grossfield's Blog

My Schedule…and A Little Extra:  Nearly $100 is what it cost to fill my Odyssey with gas this morning.  The price at my neighborhood 7-11, which is usually less expensive than most other gas stations, was $4.45 per gallon.  And so I have made a decision to exit the mortgage industry and start a gasoline company.  Does anyone know how to do that?   |   My wife, the Travelmama, is in the audience of the Oprah Winfrey Life Class this morning where Oprah interviews Joel Osteen.  This is a bucket-list check-mark for Colleen and I’m happy for her.  Also, in case you didn’t know, I’m a big Oprah fan as well…I feel she has changed the world for the better and I respect her…I’m a little jealous….

My Market Watch:  The Jobs Report is confusing many people…the number of new jobs reported was less than expected.  Typically if less new jobs are reported than traders interpret it as a weak economy and as such they sell stocks.  When traders dump stocks it frees up money to buy bonds which improves rates/prices.  However, this Jobs Report looks funky because the Unemployment Rate fell significantly.  Wait a minute…if the unemployment rate fell, then that means more people are working, right?  But at the same time there are less new jobs than expected.  That’s a little contradictory, isn’t it?  There are two plausible answers…one is that the data has been compromised, or two, the surveys which are conducted to establish the numbers was either reported incorrectly or was distorted.  Any way you look at it, it doesn’t make sense.  As I have said many times, I definitely feel that reports are influenced either directly or indirectly by political campaigns and this certainly feels that way….  My Disclaimer

My Schedule: Today I’m working from home all day but will be unavailable after 3p….