US equities gain on med jobs report
Highly anticipated NFP report was released at 1:30 pm GMT and showed the US economy unexpectedly added 311 k jobs in February, compared to downwardly revised 504k increase in January and easily topping analysts' estimates of 205k. The reading continues to point to a tight labour market, remaining well above the 183K monthly average between 2010 and 2019, and 100K per month considered necessary to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (105K), namely food services and drinking places (70K); retail trade (50K), namely general merchandise retailers (39K); government (46K); and health care (44K). On the other hand, employment declined in information (-25K), namely motion picture and sound recording industries (-9K) and in telecommunications (-3K). Employment in information has decreased by 54K since November 2022. The transportation and warehousing also lost 22K jobs.
However the jobless rate rose to 3.6% from 3.4% last month and above market estimates of 3.4%. The number of unemployed people increased by 242 thousand to 5.94 million and employment levels rose by 177 thousand to 160.32 million. The labor force participation rate inched higher to 62.5%. At the same time closely watched wage growth rose to 4.6% YoY, from 4.4% increase in January and below market expectations of a 4.7% YoY.
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Create account Try a demo Download mobile app Download mobile appToday's reading signals that the labour market begins to weaken nevertheless Fed will most likely remain committed to bringing down inflation with more rate hikes.
The difference between NFP and ADP is diminishing.Source: XTB, Macrobond
Wage growth continues to move higher. Source: XTB, Macrobond
US100 bounced off psychological support at 12000 pts. Nearest major resistance to watch lies at 13000 pts. Source: xStation5
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