The Jobs Report

Good morning. Investors are dealing with a much worse than expected jobs report. Employers cut 4,000 jobs last month, compared with a revised gain of 68,000 in July that was smaller than previously reported. Economists expected an August gain of at least 100,000. As you might expect, cries for Bernanke to cut rates immediately has taken a feverish tone in response. In fact, Greenspan is making the headlines this morning by offering up his two cents worth regarding the situation. Premarket futures are indicating a strong negative open and buyers have, for the most part, disappeared in premarket trading.

Premarket gainers: HEPH, POZN, GOLD, PAAS, SWHC, LOGI, JADE, SLW, PTEN, and TEVA.

Premarket losers: ACAS, LWSN, CSUN, ESLR, GRMN, JASO, RFMD, AAUK, MICC, CROX, ACGY, CRDC, FWLT, AAPL, RIMM, TIBX, NVDA, ASML, AMGN, JSDA, JAVA, YHOO, NUAN, AMZN, and INTC.

Fed Funds Futures show that the market is currently convinced the Fed will act by lower rates (also confirmed by the move into precious metals this week). The problem is that today's news is the first significant report that the economy is not as strong many still think and expectations will have to be reduced to fit that new perception. The market has been acting in a way that assumes that nothing has really changed and everything is still like it was a few months ago. If that were true, the jobs report would have been better.

My plan is to look for some trades in the precious metals area and keep a close eye on how my favorite stocks deal with this morning's sell pressure. Trade well out there today.