The economy created 228,000 jobs in November, much higher than the year to date monthly average of 173,000. The total number of seasonally adjusted (SA), non-farm people employed in the U.S. in November was 147.241 million (M), an increase of 0.16% month on month, (m/m).

Another excellent way to access the strength of the job market is via the monthly JOLT report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job openings were little changed at 6.0 million on the last business day of October and remain near record highs. Over the month, hires increased to 5.6 million.

The U.S. labor market continues to perform well. Continuous claims as well as new claims for unemployment insurance benefits remain at historic lows. Seasonally adjusted (SA), continuous claims stood at 1.96 million, (M) on November 18^th, climbing 42,000 week on week.

Total consumer credit increased by $20.50 billion, (B) in October, well above analysts’ expectations for the second month in row. Analyst projections for October were for $17.6B. The increase in October was the largest monthly increase since November 2016, when it rose by $24.5 billion.

On a three moving average, (3MMA) y/y comparison, the dollar was down 4.6% against the Broad Index. The dollar Broad Index was 98.89 on November 29^th, it has traded in a range of 95.16, (September) to 103.13, (January) over the past 12 months.

The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. the week ending December 5^th was 929, 749 oil and 180 gas. In percentage terms, on a month on month, (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 2.7% and gas rigs increased 6.5%. In numerical terms, the total decline over the month was 31 rigs.