U.S. job numbers rose twice as much as expected in April. What will the Fed decide?

The number of non-farm jobs in the US increased in April about twice as much as economists expected, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged. The labor market in the U.S. remains stable despite rising energy prices caused by the war in the Middle East, states Bloomberg.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), seasonally adjusted jobs increased in the States by 115,000 last month, down from March's 185,000 but well above the Dow Jones consensus forecast of 55,000, CNBC notes.

This is the second month in a row when labor market results beat forecasts, MarketWatch writes, noting that while April's employment report is unlikely to have a significant impact on the Federal Reserve's (Fed) decisions, a stronger pace of hiring means the U.S. regulator will be able to focus on fighting inflation. This in turn could suggest a low probability of aggressive interest rate cuts - and perhaps even the complete absence of any cuts this year, the portal points out.

The unemployment rate in the U.S. in April was unchanged - it, as in March, remained at 4.3%, which is further evidence that the labor market has reached a point at which only moderate job growth is sufficient to maintain stable employment levels, CNBC writes.

The job growth in April was largely driven by hiring in health care, which has been the main driver of growth in the field over the past year, Bloomberg notes. Transportation and warehousing and retail trade created the most jobs since 2024. Courier and postal services created nearly 38,000 new positions last month, also the highest number since 2020. At the same time, the agency points out, large tech companies like Meta and Microsoft have, by contrast, been cutting staff recently, including to offset significant spending on AI this year. According to the BLS report, employment in the U.S. information sector declined for the 16th consecutive month in April.

Against the background of the publication of data on the labor market in the United States, futures on major U.S. stock indices continued to grow: contracts on the S&P 500 added 0.58%, on the Nasdaq 100 - 0.9%, on the Dow Jones - 0.38%.

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