US Labor Market Stuns with 254K Jobs in September, Fed Holds Off on Rate Cuts as Economic Momentum Surges

The labor market showed great strength with an increase of 254,000 jobs in the month of September, far exceeding market expectations of 150,000 new jobs. In addition, employment data for the months of July and August were revised upward by 72,000 jobs. Continuing with the positive data, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, better than August's 4.2% and market expectations, and hourly earnings rose 0.4. These data caused the odds of a rate cut greater than 0.25% by the Federal Reserve at the next meeting on November 7 to fall to 0%, from 35% prior to its release.

Read More