The government’s job report was released Friday, defying more-sombre predictions, but is it enough to pave the way for a rate hike?
The US economy added 215,000 jobs in July falling just below previous forecasts, but adding to the speculation that the Fed will hike its benchmark rate at next month’s meeting.
“This just makes it more likely that the [Fed] will move to raise rates in September,” David Vickers, a senior portfolio manager at Russell Investments in London told the Wall Street Journal. “The big risk for this release was that we would get a very low number, so there’s certainly some relief that that did not materialize.”
Mortgage rates fell last week, but that trend could be reversed if the Fed does, in fact, decide to hike its benchmark rate next month.
Wages, meanwhile, grew 2.1 percent year-over-year and rose 0.2 percent over June’s figure. Unemployment remained unchanged at 5.3 percent.
The government also revised its June payrolls gains, upping the figure to 231,000 from a previous estimate of 223,000.
The report follows a bleaker job report from ADP, whose national employment report came in at 185,000, lower than the 215,000 private-sector payroll expectation earlier this week.
"July employment growth was slower than June, but is still in line with what we have seen since the first of the year,” Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP said in a release at the time. “Notably, large businesses with more than 500 employees had their strongest job gains since last
December and were almost double the June number.”
Inflation is currently at 0.1 percent for the 12 months prior to June 2015. The next government inflation update is scheduled for August 19.
“This just makes it more likely that the [Fed] will move to raise rates in September,” David Vickers, a senior portfolio manager at Russell Investments in London told the Wall Street Journal. “The big risk for this release was that we would get a very low number, so there’s certainly some relief that that did not materialize.”
Mortgage rates fell last week, but that trend could be reversed if the Fed does, in fact, decide to hike its benchmark rate next month.
Wages, meanwhile, grew 2.1 percent year-over-year and rose 0.2 percent over June’s figure. Unemployment remained unchanged at 5.3 percent.
The government also revised its June payrolls gains, upping the figure to 231,000 from a previous estimate of 223,000.
The report follows a bleaker job report from ADP, whose national employment report came in at 185,000, lower than the 215,000 private-sector payroll expectation earlier this week.
"July employment growth was slower than June, but is still in line with what we have seen since the first of the year,” Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP said in a release at the time. “Notably, large businesses with more than 500 employees had their strongest job gains since last
December and were almost double the June number.”
Inflation is currently at 0.1 percent for the 12 months prior to June 2015. The next government inflation update is scheduled for August 19.
