The October employment report released Friday offered another round of good news for workers and the economy as a whole.

For a couple years now, I’ve been emphasizing the positive direction of employment trends and noting that progress is accelerating, and it’s great to see the data showing that traction.

As we discussed yesterday, economic slowing in the rest of the world, while certainly a headwind for the U.S. economy, isn’t really something to worry about. U.S. economic data—3.5-percent growth last quarter, plus another month of more than 200,000 jobs created—seems to support that.

But unlike economics, where U.S. exposure is relatively small, our political and institutional exposure is intense. Here are some examples of problems abroad that should seriously worry us. 

Last night, I gave a talk to a group of clients about the strengthening U.S. economic recovery. Interestingly, most of the questions focused on the rest of the world and the risks we face as a result of serious economic issues elsewhere.

In my latest Market Thoughts video, I provide an update on the market’s recent drop and subsequent recovery, as well as discuss risks, the end of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program, and more potential good news for the market.

As expected, the midterm election resulted in the Republicans gaining control of Congress. Despite all the ink and hot air expended on it, though, the election isn’t the most important news right now. The bigger story is the slump in the oil market as Saudi Arabia cuts prices for U.S. buyers.

After months of debate, millions of dollars spent, and hundreds of thousands of TV ads (and that’s just here in Boston over the past week), Election Day is finally here. When all’s said and done, will it actually make any difference?

Maybe not as much as partisans on both sides would hope, but yes, it will.

It’s time for our monthly update on risk factors that have proven to be reliable indicators of economic trouble ahead. As expected, the data hasn’t changed much from last month—it remains encouraging in almost all areas and, in many cases, has continued to improve—but it’s still important to keep an eye on things.

Heading into November, the economic forecast remains good after a news-heavy October.

Thus far in the recovery, wage growth has been a mirage—presumed to be out there, occasionally sighted, but never actually brought to bay. There have been signs for some time that wage growth was coming, but it's never arrived. Like someone crawling across the desert, every time we’ve seen water, it’s turned out to be just more sand.

That changed today.

The big news in my house right now is Halloween, with a major costume decision between Toothless (a dragon) and Hiccup (his friend) hanging in the balance. Neither choice is particularly scary (it’s a small dragon), and that’s okay—it won’t be a very scary Halloween for the economy either.  

In case you missed it, I was in studio for Fox Business's Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo on October 15. The conversation centered on the recent market selloff, as well as the ongoing economic recovery.