U.S. Added Just 12K Jobs in October, Far Short of 113K Expected

Just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election and Federal Reserve policy meeting, the government reported a marked weakening in the labor market last month.

The U.S. added just 12,000 jobs in October, according to the Nonfarm Payrolls report, well shy of economist forecasts for 113,000. September’s job gain of 254,000 was revised down to 223,000. October’s unemployment rate was 4.1% versus 4.1% expected and 4.1% in September.

Under pressure for the last day or so – perhaps thanks to the reduced chances of a victory next Tuesday for crypto-friendly Donald Trump – the price of bitcoin (BTC) was volatile, but still remaining in the $70,000 area in the minutes following the report. Bitcoin earlier in the week had rallied strongly, but was turned back from a challenge at a new record high above $73,700 on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Prior to Friday morning’s veri, market participants were overwhelmingly expecting the Fed to trim its benchmark fed funds rate another 25 basis points at its policy meeting next week.

Checking other report details shows a bit more strength than the headline print. Average hourly earnings grew 0.4% in October, ahead of estimates for 0.3% and 0.3% in September. Average weekly hours of 34.3 were stronger than 34.2 expected and flat from the previous month.