White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow continued the U.S. economy will continue to grow at a robust pace as the 2020 election season unfolds.
“The rising stock market is indicating a lot of business and consumer confidence, in my judgment,” Kudlow said, according to the Washington Times.
Kudlow spoke as U.S. stocks hovered near all-time highs on Friday, as easing Middle East tensions and gains in popular technology stocks offset concerns about slower-than-expected December jobs growth in the United States. Earlier in the session, the 30-stock Dow average broke above 29,000 for the first time ever.
Wall Street's main indexes brushed off government data that showed domestic jobs increased by 145,000 last month, below the forecast for a 164,000 rise, as the pace of hiring remained more than enough to keep the longest economic expansion in history on track, Reuters explained.
The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report on Friday also showed the jobless rate holding near a 50-year low of 3.5%. A broader measure of unemployment dropped to a record low last month, but wage gains ebbed.
The labor force participation rate, or the proportion of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one, was steady at 63.2% last month.
Despite the tight labor market, wage inflation remains muted. Average hourly earnings rose three cents, or 0.1% last month, after gaining 0.3% in November. That lowered the annual increase in wages to 2.9% in December from 3.1% in November.
The final employment report of the decade showed the economy created 2.1 million jobs in 2019, the least since 2011 and down from 2.7 million in 2018.
In a Bloomberg TV appearance, Kudlow said Friday’s "job numbers are still very strong."
Kudlow also told Fox Business Network that the nation "is very fully employed," and that there was little sense in cherry-picking the data to find weak spots.
Kudlow said the jobs report "is a good number, solid economic growth number and again 3.5% unemployment is a remarkable number."
The soaring stock market "indicates higher economic growth," said Kudlow, who worked as Reagan’s budget deputy between 1981 and 1985.
“And I think it’s forecasting essentially an even stronger economy in the coming year,” said Kudlow, who served as the Trump campaign's senior economic adviser.
Household net worth has risen dramatically in the past three years, and Kudlow said bigger gains among lower-income households are especially encouraging, the Washington Times explained.
“That’s very important because that’s the sign of an economy that’s been restructured and reopened and has more dynamism,” Kudlow said.
Earlier this week, Kudlow predicted 3 percent growth for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the next year as economic indicators continue to post strong gains.
Kudlow on Sunday said the bull market run shows a "very strong signal of tremendous consumer and business confidence," setting us up for a return to 3% growth in 2020 and making a case for President Donald Trump's re-election.
"Almost nobody expected that to happen, and then it happened, and it got stronger," Kudlow told "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y. about 30% growth in the stock market indexes. "The way I read it is, the market is a very strong signal of tremendous consumer and business confidence – a tremendous signal of confidence.
"It tells me that the economy in the coming year is going to be even stronger, probably back into a 3% growth zone."
This story was originally published by Newsmax.
