US employment growth continued its run of good but not great results in July with US firms adding 162,000 new jobs to payrolls, similar to the underlying trend growth of 150,000 to 175,000 jobs per month. The US unemployment rate fell 0.2 points to a four-year low of 7.4 per cent. On the negative side, total hours worked fell slightly and average earnings dipped. Overall, a fairly lacklustre jobs report that may delay any potential 'tapering' of bond purchases by the Federal Reserve, which should in-turn help to halt the rise in long-term interest rates. Indeed, the Canadian 5-year bond yield (the benchmark rate for mortgage rate setting) was off 6 basis points following today's US jobs report.
Copyright BCREA - reprinted with permission
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