evening wrap, september 5

market vibes

The stock market today… without without further comment.

Bringing it all back home tonight, the markets wanted a weak NFP, and the BLS did not disappoint them. NFP fell perilously close to zero for a second time since June’s 147,000 jobs created was revised down to 14,000 on August 2. ADP reported negative job growth of 33,000 for June in July. On balance, even if the BLS does not revise this report, the trends in employment are accelerating downward at an alarming rate.

Job openings fell to 7.18 million in July, the lowest since September 2024, down from 7.36 million in June and well below expectations of 7.4 million. For perspective, in 2022, before the Fed started cutting, JOLTS was 12 million. For the first time since 2021, unemployed workers (7.2 million) outnumbered job openings in July. US employers announced 85,979 job cuts in August alone (up 39% from July), with Challenger, Gray & Christmas reporting over 425,000 cuts in the first half of 2025, a 35% increase year-over-year (sources: BLS, Fortune, CNBC, CBS, Reuters, and others via Grok).

Gold ripped higher and held its gains, posting and closing at a third new all-time high in four sessions. Stocks popped half-heartedly and fizzled miserably, considering they got what they asked for. Bonds delivered a punishing rally to the inflationistas who have shunned them. The dollar barely broke a sweat. Oil got hosed again.

We have a fairly deep dive into stocks, gold, and oil tonight including some ancient wisdom from the mesozoic era! Let’s do a quick check down of the charts and get into the weekend.