The US Department of Labor says the economy added 250,000 new jobs in October. The unemployment rate stands at 3.7%. 

Despite a strong finish to October with a Halloween rally, the S&P 500 suffered its worst month in over seven years with a 6.9% decline. In addition to snapping its 6-month win streak, the S&P 500 fell 16 days for the month, tying the most down days for any month since October 2008. But as has been the case virtually all year, U.S. equities held up better than their overseas counterparts. For the month, the MSCI EAFE Index fell 7.9%, while the MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Index slid 8.7%. A strong dollar, weaker economic growth, and political risk, particularly in Italy, weighed on European equities, while trade tensions and related weaker economic data dragged broad EM equities including China lower. (LPL)

U.S. productivity grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the third quarter. It marks a slowdown from the previous quarter but is still better than the weak gains seen for most of this nine-year expansion. Labor costs accelerated but still remained at a low level. (CNBC)

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With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Troy Reinhart.