Markets react to jobs data, Priceline CEO on travel: Catalysts

On today's episode of Catalysts, Hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills break down some of the biggest stories from the trading day. September's jobs report came in better than expected, as the US added 254,000 jobs while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%. Leslie Falconio, UBS Global Wealth Management head of taxable fixed income strategy, believes the print shows the market that the Fed's 50-basis-point cut in September "is not a trend." She adds, "The market is now readjusting to a less dovish outlook, which we believe they should have to begin with. So we're not surprised that they're taking those cuts out." However, she notes the next jobs report could be "clouded" for the Fed as Hurricane Helene and labor strikes may weigh on the data. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee calls the report "superb" but cautioned that people may not want to get too excited about it. "Don't get too worked up about any one month's report. Remember, it's plus or minus 130,000 jobs, just the margin of error. So the last two months when the numbers were disappointing and people began to freak out, I said, let's not overreact to one month's number. This is a very good number. And we got revisions on some of the previous months," he says. Gary Cohn, the IBM vice chairman, and former US National Economic Council director in the Trump administration, tells Yahoo Finance, “I always remind people when we get the jobs report, this is probably the least scientific data that the US government puts out. This is actually polling data. They call people's houses and that's how they come up with this information. And that's why we see relatively big revisions to employment data month over month. So I always say always take these reports with a grain of salt. But the trend is important… We're at a good, really neutral place where the jobs are being created and the people entering the workforce. They're balancing each other out, which is a which is a good place to be. So we're seeing a real normalization of what I would call the US economy.” Wage growth ticked up 4% year-over-year in September, and Priceline (BKNG) CEO Brett Keller explains, "More money means more travel." He notes that the travel industry held up well through the summer, and with the holiday travel season right around the corner, the industry data is showing traffic patterns in line with 2023. Meanwhile, the hotel industry has grown slightly stronger, and he notes that it has normalized since the post-COVID revenge travel cycle. Constellation Brands (STZ) posted mixed second-quarter results, showing weakness in its wine and spirits segment while maintaining strong demand for beer products. CEO Bill Newlands remains "optimistic that things are going to get better," despite the mixed report. He references the recent jobs report, which showed Hispanic unemployment rising to 5.1% in September, noting the significance as the Hispanic community comprises a major portion of their customer base: "The fortunate part for us with a Hispanic customer is there's great brand loyalty and they view beer as really a fundamental in what they do with their lifestyle, so that's very helpful. But there's no question that if things are tight or there's concerns, that people get a little bit careful and they tend to buy more value packs." This post was written by Melanie Riehl