September Jobs Report Exceeds Expectations

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Morning Money Memo…

ABC News' John Kapetaneas reports:

This morning's jobs report far exceeded analysts expectations. Total job creation for September was reported at 248,000, exceeding the expected 215,000, and putting job growth once again above 200,000 following August's disappointing results.

"At this pace of job growth, the unemployed and underemployed are quickly being fully employed," economist Mark Zandi told ABC News. "Also encouraging is the breadth of the job gains across industries and across all pay scales. The increase in hours worked per week is a positive leading indicator for continued strong gains."

The unemployment rate also unexpectedly fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.9 percent after it was expected to remain unchanged.

JP Morgan Breach

JP Morgan is reeling after potentially the largest data breach in financial history. The company announced that 76 million individual customers and 7 million small businesses could have been impacted by the summer's breach, which initially was believed to have only affected a million customers. In a release Thursday, JP Morgan maintained that while customer personal information such as names and addresses were affected, no customer's money would be at risk. The company also apologized for the inconvenience, and said that no customer would be liable for any reported fraudulent charges. JP Morgan's stock fell nearly 1 percent Thursday, and is lower in pre-market trading.

'Gone Girl' May Be in Box Office Battle

This weekend's box office is expected to bring serious competition for the top spot, as several newcomers take on strong openers from last week. Analysts expect Oscar contender "Gone Girl", the Ben Affleck mystery thriller, to out-earn the competition by taking in more than $20 million over the weekend. Horror film "Annabelle" is also expected to top $20 million, following the economic success of horror predecessors like "The Conjuring" and "The Purge." Last week's top films, "The Equalizer" and "The Boxtrolls," are also expected to be competitive.

Bernanke Denied on Mortgage Refi

Can't refinance that high-interest home loan? Don't worry, you're not alone. At a conference Thursday, former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke revealed that he was denied a refinance of his home mortgage, according to Bloomberg. When the crowd responded with laughter to Bernanke's assertion, he maintained, "I'm not making that up." Bernanke, who reportedly earns $250,000 in speaking fees per speech and recently signed a book deal, suggested the tightness of mortgage credit and lending is too excessive.