- The economy added 98K jobs in March, the smallest gain in a year, and well south of expectations for 180K. The unemployment rate, however, fell to its lowest level in nearly 10 years at 4.5%.
- Revisions trimmed 38K in job gains from January and February.
- Big drops in headline unemployment have often come alongside declines in the labor force participation rate (kind of the denominator in the equation), but that held steady in March at 63%. Helping was the household survey, which showed a 472K job gain.
- The broader U-6 unemployment rate dropped all the way to 8.9% from 9.2%.
- The average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours, and average hourly earnings rose an inline 0.2% to $26.14; earnings are higher by 2.7% Y/Y.
- Treasury traders are seeing just the negative, sending the 10-year yield down five basis points to 2.29% - a new low for the year. TLT +0.9%, TBT -1.8%
- The dollar (UUP, UDN) is modestly lower, and gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) - already perky following the Syrian strikes - adds to gains, now up 1.3% to $1,270 per ounce.
- Flat ahead of the NFP print, U.S. stock index futures are now down about 0.25% across the board. SPY -0.35% premarket
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