Daily Market Update 9/6/13

Rates moved lower Friday following weaker than expected employment data.  The economy added 169,000 jobs in August, a bit less than expected, but figures from previous months were revised lower by 74,000.  Although the Unemployment Rate fell unexpectedly to 7.3%, the decline was entirely due to people dropping out of the labor force.  The labor force participation rate (the percentage of people able to work who are working or are looking for work) dropped to the lowest level since 1978.  Today's data may cause the Fed to wait longer to begin tapering its bond purchase program.  In other news, comments from Russian officials indicating that Russia will support Syria in the event of a U.S. attack hurt stocks and boosted mortgage-backed securities.  No other key economic data will be released today.