By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - The U.S. economy continued to do a good job with job creation in January, while annual wage growth also accelerated.
Nonfarm payrolls for the month rose by 225,000, up from a rise of 145,000 in December. This was well ahead of the expected 160,000, according to economists’ forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
The jobless rate rose to 3.6% of the workforce from 3.5%, however.
Average hourly earnings, a measure of wage inflation, rose 0.2% in January, and were up 3.1% year on year, broadly in line with expectations.
The market had already been primed for a bullish number on nonfarm payrolls after ADP’s monthly report on private-sector hiring showed an increase by 291,000 jobs in January, the most since May 2015.
The Dow 30 futures contract, which had rallied sharply earlier in the week, had dropped 45 points within 10 minutes of the report to be down 0.4% on the day. EUR/USD was little changed at $1.0961.