Job Data Revive Inflation Angst

After rallying sharply for the past five weeks, Wall Street is suffering from an embarrassment of riches, or more to the point, a surplus of good news.

Stocks hugged the flatline Friday morning, and weakened into midday, despite a strong November employment report. "Equity investors should like this report," wrote Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, in a research note.

The fact that not everyone did signals again there are some market participants are increasingly concerned that the economy's quick recovery after Hurricane Katrina will allow the Federal Reserve to continue lifting interest rates well into 2006.

According to the Labor Department, the economy added 215,000 jobs in November, almost right in line with Wall Street's expectations for 210,000 new positions. The report also revealed mounting inflationary pressure. Average hourly earnings increased 0.2% in November, which was in line with forecasts. October earnings, however, were revised upward to a 0.6% gain from an already strong 0.5% increase.

That didn't go unnoticed in bonds pits. In recent action, the benchmark 10-year Treasury was down 5/32, while its yield, which moves inversely to the price, rose to 4.54%.

"Trend-like employment growth plus rising wages growth suggests that the Fed has the green light to raise rates," says John Sylvia, chief economist at Wachovia.

Rising bond yields put pressure on equities. Stocks were also confronting another increase in oil prices as a cold weather pattern moves into the Northeastern U.S. Crude oil for January delivery was recently up 28 cents to $58.75 a barrel.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 42.57 points, or 0.4%, at 10,870. General Motors (GM) was the biggest drag on the Dow, losing 2.8%.

The S&P 500 was faring only a little better, thanks to gains in energy shares. The broad index was losing 2.04 points, or 0.2%, to 1262.63.