The US employment outlook proves less picturesque than previously thought after an unambiguous disappointment in the latest labor data release. US nonfarm payrolls rose 126,000, vastly underperforming consensus expectations of 245,000 jobs added. The unemployment rate remained stable at 5.50%, but the downward revisions of January and February’s official data is concerning. Nearly 70,000 jobs were subtracted from the prior months, highlighting that the overly exuberant labor recovery expectations might need to be modified. Other setbacks include the drop in labor force participation, with over 93 million eligible Americans no longer employed, the lowest since 1978. The kneejerk reaction to the news was largely negative, sending US equity benchmarks negative for 2015 as a crash in the dollar sent commodities soaring.
Payrolls Setback
Daily Analysis - 06/04/2015