Good news may just be good news for the markets

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Do you like what you see? You can subscribe here.

Job explosion in December
US Nonfarm Payrolls increased 256,000 in December, compared to 212,000 in November and above the 155,000 expected by the Dow Jones consensus, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2% in November. Economists expected the rate to remain the same in December.

US markets in the red by 2025
Markets in the US fell on friday after the December jobs report was released that shattered expectations, leaving major US indices in the red so far this year. Asia-Pacific Stocks fell on mondayfollowing Wall Street losses. Even though China posted a surprise increase in exports in December, the CSI 300 lost about 0.5%, extending losses from Friday when it closed at its lowest level since September 2024.

Surprise increase in China exports
China’s exports in December increased by 10.7% In US dollar terms over the previous year, data from China customs authority showed on Monday. This is higher than the 7.3% growth expected in a Reuters poll and the 6.7% increase in November. Imports increased 1.0%, reversing the contraction of the previous two months. But possible tariff increases by the United States could slow trade.

Why Meta had to ‘bend the knee to Trump’
goal Tuesday’s announcement that it would eliminate third-party fact-checking was seen as an attempt to appease US President-elect Donald Trump. Here’s why Meta had to “bow on the knees to Trump” in the words of a former Facebook vice president. Separately, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed on Friday at the “The Joe Rogan Experience” in which the crashed Apple due to mediocre innovation efforts.

TikTok could be banned in the US this week
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday heard oral arguments in the case involving the future of tiktok in the United States. He The judges generally did not seem convinced for TikTok’s main argument that ban tiktok violates the free speech rights of its millions of users in the US, meaning the app could disappear from app stores as soon as this week.

(PRO) Inflation report and bank results of the week
The US consumer price index for December is released on Wednesday. It will tell you if Inflationary pressures continue to weigh on the economy and markets, especially after December nonfarm payrolls were surprisingly high. Big banks like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley report earnings in the second half of the week.

Investors are concerned that the Federal Reserve could remain aggressive in response to the rising labor market. The market-implied probability of a single cut this year increased to 68.5% after the employment report, according to the CME Group FedWatch Indicator.

Bond yields, which have already risen in recent weeks, rose further with the release of the jobs report. He 10-Year Treasury Yield hit your highest level since November 2023.

The market sell-off following the release of the jobs report was rapid and not unexpected. He S&P 500 fell 1.54%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.63% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.63%. All major indices are now in negative territory for 2025.

Good news is bad news for investors, as the well-worn phrase goes.

But we must remember that circumstances are different now than during peak inflation.

The US Federal Reserve may not be as concerned about a strong labor market this time around. On the contrary, strong job growth will likely reassure you, considering that concerns about the employment rate were one of the reasons the Federal Reserve decided to take a giant measure. 50 basis point rate cut in September.

“You’ll never hear me complain that we have 250,000 jobs,” said Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. saying on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” Goolsbee also noted that inflation over the past six months has been around 1.9%, or just below the Federal Reserve’s target.

In times of lower inflation, strong employment numbers are a sign of a resilient economy.

And economic growth ultimately “means potential for better earnings, less recession risk, and that will really dictate longer-term returns versus a sell-off in the current market,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial.

In other words, good news can just be good news if investors look beyond the immediate present.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Michael Santoli, Pia Singh and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.