#jU.S. Added 303K Jobs in
March, 0utpacing
Expectations for 200K
The U.S. jobs market continues to exhibit
strength with the government reporting
the addition of 303,000 jobs last month.
That's the strongest headline number
since May 2023 and easily topped
economist forecasts for 200,000 and
February's 270,000 additions (revised from
a previously reported 275,000).
The unemployment rate in March dipped
to 3.8% against expectations for 3.9% and
February's 3.9%.
The price of bitcoin {{BTC} fell about 0.
in the minutes following Friday morning's
report to $66,000. In traditional markets,
U.S. stock index futures gave up a chunk of
earlier gains, but are still modestly higher.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose 6.5
basis points to 4.38% and the dollar index
added 0.5%.
Coming into 2024, markets had priced in as
many as five or six U.S. Federal Reserve
rate cuts to begin as soon as March. The
economic data, however, hasn't
cooperated. Inflation has actually risen
somewhat in the first quarter of the year
and job growth has remained robust.
March has obviously come and gone with
no rate cut and traders ahead of today's
numbers had moved expectations of the
first rate cut to June or July, according t
the CME FedWatch Tool. A total of just
three rate cuts are expected for the full
vear and even that could be too much.
Speaking yesterday, Minneapolis Fed
President Neel Kashkari suggested the
possibility of no rate cuts at all in 2024. His
remarks prompted a sharp reversal in
stocks, with the major averages closing
down more than 1%. Just following today's
numbers, swaps trading indicated
expectations for the first rate cut had
moved out to September.
Checking other report details, the labor
force participation rate rose to 62.7% from
62.5%, suggesting sizable numbers of
people returning to the workforce. Average
hourly earnings rose 0.3% in March, in line
with expectations and up from 0.2% in
February. On a year-over-year basis,
average hourly earnings rose an in line
4.1%, down from 4.3% in February.