President Obama concluded the Democratic Republican Convention last night when he accepted his party’s nomination for reelection with a speech touching on his vision for the next four years. That vision includes creating jobs, a critical test he faces this morning with the jobs report for the month of August set to be released in a few hours. CNNMoney.com Managing Editor Lex Harris joins Zoraida Sambolin on “Early Start” this morning to preview the jobs report.
“The forecast right now from the economists we talked is for about 120,000 jobs added,” Harris says. “It continues to tell the story of slow and steady gains. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough to bring the unemployment rate down meaningfully. We’re probably still going to stay at 8.3%.”
However, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 both closed at their highest points during Obama’s presidency on Thursday. Harris tells Sambolin how this could be good news for the president. “I think the market hit bottom in March 2009. Since then, it’s basically doubled under President Obama,” he says. “It’s a big story.”
Yet, Obama is not totally out of the red. The Federal Reserve meets next week. “Part of the reason the stock market’s been going up is because of the Fed. If they disappoint, we could see some shakiness there,” Harris says. “And Europe is still not fixed.”