April’s better-than-expected job openings data hinted that businesses were looking past the tariff-induced tension. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) called it “little changed” as analysts assessed its impact on the stock market.
What Happened: Job openings rose to 7.391 million in April from 7.200 million in March, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) from the BLS.
April’s release beat the 7.100 million consensus forecast. But the BLS called the level of openings “little changed,” meaning that their survey didn’t have enough respondents to be statistically convincing that the monthly increase was a signal and not noise.
The CIO at Northlight Asset Management, Chris Zaccarelli, said that the higher-than-expected job openings were a good sign for the economy, as many were worried that the tariff uncertainty was weighing too heavily on businesses.
According to him, businesses felt confident to hire and expand. The data shows that “businesses are looking past the tariff issues for now, …