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CNBC’s Rick Santelli has analyzed countless economic releases during his decades at the network. But the veteran market commentator could barely contain his surprise when the latest U.S. jobs numbers crossed the screen.
“Hold on to your seats, folks,” Santelli said (1) during CNBC’s live coverage on the morning of Sept. 4. “Nonfarm payrolls for the month of August: up 162,000. That’s basically three times what expectations are.”
The official numbers confirmed the magnitude of the surprise. The U.S. economy added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2) — more than three times the 53,000 jobs economists had expected (3).
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And that wasn’t the only positive surprise.
The government revised June’s gain upward from 20,000 to 31,000 jobs, while July’s initially reported loss of 23,000 was transformed into a gain of 21,000. Together, the revisions made employment growth in those two months stronger than previously reported by 55,000 jobs.
“We’re cooking in grease on this report,” Santelli declared. “162,000 would be the best level going back to March of this year, which was the high-water mark at 214,000.”
Santelli was especially encouraged by manufacturing, which added 16,000 jobs in August — its strongest showing since late 2023. Manufacturing employment has now increased by 58,000 since December 2025.
“If you look at manufacturing jobs, the renaissance continues,” he said.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, even as the labor force participation rate edged up to 61.6%. Ordinarily, an influx of people entering or reentering the workforce can push the unemployment rate higher because more Americans are actively looking for jobs.
That didn’t happen this time.
“I thought that moving higher would make the unemployment rate move up, but it did not,” Santelli said of the participation rate. “That’s a whopping two-tenths better than our last look.”
The average workweek in the private sector ticked up from 34.3 to 34.4 hours, another development Santelli called “solid.”
After the economy had averaged just 31,000 new jobs per month over the preceding 12 months, the August surge delivered an unmistakable upside shock.
Santelli’s reaction summed it up: “Wow, wow, wow!”
Betting on America
A stronger job market can support consumer spending, corporate earnings and the broader economy. Rising manufacturing employment could also provide a boost to companies positioned to benefit from increased domestic investment and production.
Together, the numbers offer a reminder that even amid inflation concerns, policy uncertainty and market volatility, the U.S. economy still has powerful engines of growth — a point investing legend Warren Buffett has repeatedly emphasized.
“For 240 years it’s been a terrible mistake to bet against America, and now is no time to start,” Buffett wrote in his 2015 shareholder letter (4). “America’s golden goose of commerce and innovation will continue to lay more and larger eggs.”
He also has a clear, simple piece of advice for everyday Americans looking to capitalize on that golden goose — no stock-picking skills required.
“In my view, for most people, the best thing to do is own the S&P 500 index fund,” Buffett has famously stated (5). This approach gives investors exposure to 500 of America’s largest companies across a wide range of industries, providing instant diversification without the need for constant monitoring or active trading.
The strategy has served investors well: As of August 2026, the S&P 500 is up 13% (6) year-to-date and roughly 70% over the past five years.
Planting the investment seeds
Perhaps the biggest appeal of investing in the S&P 500 is its accessibility — anyone, regardless of wealth, can take advantage of it. Even small amounts can grow over time with tools like Acorns, a popular app that automatically invests your spare change.
Signing up for Acorns takes just minutes: All you have to do is link your cards, and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference — your spare change — into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.
With Acorns, you can invest in an S&P 500 ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today with a recurring investment, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey.
For investors interested in individual stocks, research tools like Moby can also come in handy. Their team of former hedge fund analysts does the heavy lifting — breaking down the market, flagging quality stocks and making the research easy to digest.
Across nearly 400 stock picks over the past four years, Moby’s recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and can take the guesswork out of choosing investments.
Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.
Build wealth through US real estate
Beyond stocks, real estate has long been another cornerstone of building wealth in America.
In fact, Buffett has pointed to real estate when explaining what a productive, income-generating asset looks like. In 2022, Buffett stated (7) that if you offered him “1% of all the apartment houses in the country” for $25 billion, he would “write you a check this afternoon.”
Why? Because regardless of what’s happening in the broader economy, people still need a place to live, and apartments can consistently produce rent money, even if there’s a downturn in the stock market.
Real estate also offers a built-in hedge against inflation. When inflation rises, property values often increase as well, reflecting the higher costs of materials, labor and land. At the same time, rental income tends to go up, providing landlords with a revenue stream that adjusts with inflation.
Of course, you don’t need $25 billion — or even to buy a single property outright — to invest in real estate. Crowdfunding platforms like mogul offer an easier way to get exposure to this income-generating asset class.
As a real estate investment platform offering fractional ownership in blue-chip rental properties, mogul gives investors monthly rental income, real-time appreciation and tax benefits — without the need for a hefty down payment or late-night tenant calls.
Founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate investors, the team handpicks the top 1% of single-family rental homes nationwide for you. In other words, you gain access to institutional-quality offerings for a fraction of the usual cost.
Each property undergoes a rigorous vetting process, requiring a minimum 12% return even in downside scenarios. Across the board, the platform features an average annual IRR of 18.8%. Their cash-on-cash yields, meanwhile, average between 10% and 12% annually. Offerings often sell out in under three hours, with investments typically ranging between $15,000 and $40,000 per property.
Sign up for an account and browse available properties here to start investing today.
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Diversify your real estate portfolio
Another option is to leverage multifamily real estate investing. In fact, in a report (8) prepared by JPMorgan, Al Brooks — the firm’s vice chair of Commercial Banking — said, “I think multifamily housing is absolutely where you want to be as an investor.”
Accredited investors can now tap into this opportunity through platforms such as Lightstone DIRECT, which gives accredited investors access to single-asset multifamily and industrial deals.
Lightstone DIRECT’s direct-to-investor model ensures a high degree of alignment between individual investors and a vertically-integrated, institutional owner-operator — a sophisticated and streamlined option for individual investors looking to diversify into private-market real estate.
With Lightstone DIRECT, accredited individuals can access the same multifamily and industrial assets Lightstone pursues with its own capital, with minimum investments starting at $100,000.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
YouTube (1); Bureau of Labor Statistics (2); CNBC (3), (5), (7); Berkshire Hathaway (4); S&P Global (6); JPMorgan Chase (8)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.