The US unemployment rate quietly moved up in January 2017 while everyone was focused on the strong NFP jobs data for January. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 227,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs for January, significantly higher than forecasts of 180,000 new jobs. Despite the strongest growth in jobs since September 2016, they are some concerns about wage growth, labor force participation, and rising unemployment levels. It is certainly not a clear-cut picture of the US economy with a new president at the helm. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates a concerning trend – an upward spike in the number of persons not presently in the labor force who are seeking employment. This number has been increasing ever since October 2007 when it was at a low of 4.3 million people. The current figure is 5.7 million people. Another important metric is the employment to population ratio.

Back in 1997, approximately 64% of all people were employed in the economy. By January 2017 that figure has dropped to 59.9%. While it is on the rise, there is no doubt that the recession in 2008 caused a sharp decline in the number of people working in the US. The slow recovery is indeed a cause for concern. Of equal concern is average hourly earnings. Wall Street analysts were anticipating an increase of 2.7% for January, year on year, but the actual earnings increased by just 2.5%. This is an important determinant of the health of the economy, especially when the Fed is trying to raise interest rates to increase inflation. Low real wage growth is holding the economy back, and it will likely require Fed intervention. It is against this backdrop that we examine the top 4 financial trading assets in the US that binary options traders should be watching.

Trading Opportunity #1 – Oil on the Rise

On Friday, 3 February 2017, oil prices in the US rose to $53.83 per barrel. Oil is up a remarkable 19% since OPEC countries agreed to cut their output by 1.2 million barrels per day on 30 November 2016. Over the past 1-year, oil prices have approximately doubled. Investors in the US oil fund ETF (USO) have seen an uptick in performance of 14% since the lows in 2016. However, it’s a tough call with the oil market on a global scale. When Brent crude oil producers cut back on production, WTI crude oil producers are increasing production. The net effect of this on the oil price is sluggish growth. However, the general opinion of commodity traders is that oil is on the rise. This was bolstered by President Trump’s sanctions against Iran for violating the terms of the nuclear deal reach between the West and the rogue Middle Eastern nation in 2015. As it stands, we can expect oil prices to move in the region of $60 – $70 per barrel for both WTI and Brent crude before the year is out.