The highlight from the US on Friday was the non-farm payrolls for November, which showed 155,000 jobs were added. This was well below the 200,000 the markets had been expecting and, while job growth remains strong, it is possible it has peaked. It is worth bearing in mind that November is the 98th consecutive month of a growth in hiring – the longest streak since records began. Still, with the pace of hiring slowing dramatically, December’s reading will be especially fascinating to see.
Average earnings for the same month came in as expected by holding steady at 3.1%, while the unemployment rate remained at 3.7% – a low unseen since 1969. However, some market analysts are suggesting that the economic recovery could be running out of steam, similar to how we have seen the eurozone fare throughout 2018.
In direct contrast to the UK, it is fairly quiet start to the week for the US, with only November’s consumer inflation expectations on the schedule. Tomorrow is not much busier, but on Wednesday, we will see the inflation rate for last month. It is expected to drop to 2.2% from 2.5% the previous month.
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