9 Mar 2015
Stellar US jobs raises expectations of 'patience' removal - ANZ
FXStreet (Bali) - A strong payrolls report has raised expectations that the Fed will remove its reference to ‘patience’ at next week’s meeting, notes ANZ.
Key Quotes
"A strong payrolls report has raised expectations that the Fed will remove its reference to ‘patience’ at next week’s meeting, with a Fed start to rate hikes probably in June. Comments by the Fed’s Williams late last week were in a similar vein."
"February non-farm payrolls showed a +295k print, which followed a (downwardly revised) +239k gain in January. Job gains occurred in food services, professional and business services, construction, health care, transportation and warehousing and despite the strike-related fall in 6,000 jobs, manufacturing employment gained 8,000 jobs."
"Over the past 3 months, job gains had averaged 288,000 per month, and February was the 12th straight month of job gains exceeding 200,000. The drop in the unemployment rate to 5.5% - the lowest since May 2008 - was driven by falls in the labour market participation rate (to 62.8% versus 63% a year ago)."
"Wider measures of unemployment remained elevated but are moving in the right direction, with the U6 measure down to 11% in February compared to 12.6% a year ago. Despite the increased demand for labour, wage growth remained sluggish, with annual average hourly earnings growth at just 2%. Nevertheless, wages will follow, taking the Fed with them."
Key Quotes
"A strong payrolls report has raised expectations that the Fed will remove its reference to ‘patience’ at next week’s meeting, with a Fed start to rate hikes probably in June. Comments by the Fed’s Williams late last week were in a similar vein."
"February non-farm payrolls showed a +295k print, which followed a (downwardly revised) +239k gain in January. Job gains occurred in food services, professional and business services, construction, health care, transportation and warehousing and despite the strike-related fall in 6,000 jobs, manufacturing employment gained 8,000 jobs."
"Over the past 3 months, job gains had averaged 288,000 per month, and February was the 12th straight month of job gains exceeding 200,000. The drop in the unemployment rate to 5.5% - the lowest since May 2008 - was driven by falls in the labour market participation rate (to 62.8% versus 63% a year ago)."
"Wider measures of unemployment remained elevated but are moving in the right direction, with the U6 measure down to 11% in February compared to 12.6% a year ago. Despite the increased demand for labour, wage growth remained sluggish, with annual average hourly earnings growth at just 2%. Nevertheless, wages will follow, taking the Fed with them."