According to the government’s nonfarm payrolls data issued Friday morning, the labor market momentum continued in a significant way in January, with the U.S. adding 353,000 jobs against economist projections for 180,000 and against December’s 333,000 (updated from an originally reported 216,000). Contrary to predictions that it would rise to 3.8%, the jobless rate remained stable at 3.7%.
In the minutes after the news, the price of bitcoin (BTC) dropped by roughly 0.5%, and it is currently trading at $42,800.
Given that the Federal Reserve’s January monetary policy meeting was held less than two days ago, the labor market report released this morning is especially noteworthy. Notwithstanding the fact that markets had already almost entirely priced in a rate decrease at the Fed’s upcoming meeting in March, the outcome of that meeting and Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference afterwards made it evident that the American central bankers were in no rush to do so.
Examining additional report data reveals that average hourly wages increased by a significant 0.6% in January. That is higher than December’s 0.4% and double the 0.3% forecast. The average hourly wage increased by 4.5% year over year, as opposed to the 4.1% predicted and the 4.4% prior. If the report had any weakness, it was in the average weekly hours, which decreased to 34.1 from 34.3 in the past and 34.3 in the expectation.
Traditional markets have fallen as a result of the news; Nasdaq futures have now increased by 0.5% after rising by more than 1% before the release. S&P futures have increased by barely 0.2% as opposed to about 1% earlier. Gold has plummeted by 0.6% to $2,059 per ounce, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury has soared higher by 10 basis points to 3.98%.