Today’s US jobs data: opinion & thoughts from Aberdeen

This is just what the doves at the Fed wanted to see. All of the numbers point towards it being more difficult to justify another hike in March. Even the headline employment number won’t help. It shows more people are in employment which you might interpret as increasing the likelihood of a hike. But at this stage in the economic cycle you’d expect the headline employment number to be slowing a bit as we’re theoretically reaching full employment. The increase in participation and drop in wages suggest we’re not at full employment.
“Financial markets are reacting with a bit of confusion. Some are seeing the headline number and thinking a hike is on the cards while others are digging below the surface and concluding it might not be.”