US: Labour market report says Powell was right – Nordea Markets

According to Anders Svendsen, analyst at Nordea Markets, today’s US Labour Market Report for April supports Fed Chair Powell’s upbeat assessment of the economy from Wednesday’s FOMC meeting.

Key Quotes

“Nonfarm payrolls increased 263k in April + 19k in revisions from the past two reports, somewhat above the consensus estimate at 185k.”

“The unemployment rate dropped to 3.6%, while the broad U6 unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.3%.”

“The only weak spot was wage growth “only” at 0.2% m/m in April, higher than a month earlier but less than expected.”

“Overall, the Labour Market Report supports Fed Chair Powell’s assessment of a healthy outlook for this year.”