Summary:
December's job report: 216,000 new positions added, maintaining a 3.7% unemployment rate, a significant increase from November's revised 173,000.
NFP (changes in non-farm payroll)
2/2/2024 (Fri)
Previous (Dec)：216k Forecast: 173k
December’s jobs report showed employers added 216,000 positions for the month while the unemployment rate held at 3.7%. That was a sizeable gain from November’s downwardly revised 173,000.
October also was revised lower, to 105,000 from 150,000, indicating a slightly less robust picture for growth in Q4. The report showed that inflationary pressures were still prevalent in the labour market.
The data adds to the case that economy continues to defy expectations for a slowdown even after the Fed delivered 11 interest rate hikes from March 2022.
Disclaimer: This material is for general information purposes only and is not intended as (and should not be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by EBC or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person.
Thursday marked the week's final settlement before Easter, with light trading. Brent and WTI rose about 5%, their first weekly gain in 3 weeks.
2025-04-18
Gold dipped from its high on Thursday but stayed firm as US stocks fell again after Trump ordered a probe, sparking new global trade war concerns.
2025-04-17
China's first-quarter GDP exceeded expectations, but US tariffs could pose a significant risk, and a reversal in exports is expected.
2025-04-16
