The employment report for June showed an increase of 57,000 jobs, well below expectations of 115,000, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones.
However, the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, while forecasts were that it would remain at 4.3%.
The yield on two-year US Treasuries fell after the data release, as investors speculated that the Federal Reserve may delay raising interest rates.
“While we are still waiting for a clearer response from the Fed under the leadership of Kevin Warsh, these data reduce the pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates further in the near term,” said Bradford Smith, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors, SEEbiz reports.
“Warsh has already emphasized that employment data only gain significance after the third revision, and that before then they represent a kind of reflection of the past. With the slowdown in oil price growth, weaker data from the labor market is likely to keep the Fed on hold until at least the next meeting,” he added.
