Strong June Jobs Report Has Investors Worried

Hiring continues to defy expectations and remain strong, as the latest monthly report from the Labor Department demonstrates.

• Big number: Employers added 372,000 jobs in June, well above analysts' predictions of 250,000, reports CNBC.
• Steady rate: The unemployment rate remained at a low 3.6% for the fourth consecutive month, per the AP. The rate continues to match a 50-year low.
• Big picture: The Wall Street Journal notes that the labor market remains resilient even as the rest of the economy is "rapidly cooling." Inflation, for example, is starting to crimp consumer spending, and home construction has slowed. Most analysts expect hiring to slow as well, but the monthly reports continue to surpass estimates.

• The bad news: While the report is good news in some sense, that translates to bad news in another. The robust hiring has investors worried the Federal Reserve will remain aggressive with rate hikes. As a result, stock futures were sliding in the immediate aftermath of the report, notes CNBC. As the AP puts it, the "Fed may regard the June job gain as evidence that the rapid pace of hiring is feeding inflation as companies raise pay to attract workers and then increase prices to cover their higher labor costs."

(More jobs report stories.)