Wages are up 2.9% y/y and this overshadows the small miss on job gains. Here is a quick take from CIBC:
Here is their view, courtesy of eFXnews:
It wasn’t a barnburner, but it will do. While non-farm payrolls increased by a below consensus 156k in December, net revisions and a solid rebound in wage growth more than offset that disappointment.
Net revisions for the prior two months saw employment increase by 19k jobs. Moreover, following a decline in average hourly earnings in November, the most recent month’s data revealed an increase of 0.4%, more than offsetting the prior month’s weakness. The annual rate of wage growth now stands at 2.9%, the fastest pace since mid-2009, leaving the Fed in a position to continue gradually edging rates higher. Separately, the trade balance widened to $-45.2 bn in November, which was slightly less than what the consensus had expected.
All told, the data releases today should be negative for fixed income and positive for the US dollar.
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