Breaking: US Nonfarm Payrolls up 1.8 million in July vs. 1.6 million expected

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in the US rose by 1.8 million (rounded from 1,763,000) in July, the data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday. This reading beat the market expectation of 1.6 million by a small margin and followed June's print of 4,791,000.

Further details of the publication revealed that the Unemployment Rate fell to 10.2% to come in better than analysts' estimate of 10.5%. Additionally, the Labor Force Participation Rate ticked down to 61.4% and the Average Hourly Earnings edged lower from 4.9% to 4.8% on a yearly basis.

Follow our live coverage of the NFP report and the market reaction.

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index showed a muted reaction to the data and was last seen gaining 0.45% on the day at 93.19. Meanwhile, The S&P 500 futures continued to erase daily losses and were last down only 0.15% on a daily basis.

NFP Quick Analysis: Slow hiring downbeat for the dollar, good for gold, no silver lining.

A V-shaped recovery? White House adviser Larry Kudlow still touted a rapid bounce as late as two weeks ago – but the shape of the labor market already looks like an L or Nike swoosh. The sharp fall due to coronavirus is turning from a temporary shutdown into more permanent job losses.

EUR/USD puts 1.18 to the test on upbeat NFP.

The selling interest around the single currency remains well and sound, with EUR/USD hovering around the 1.1800 region in the wake of the US labour market report for the month of July.

US Dollar Index struggles to keep 93.00 post-Payrolls.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback vs. a basket of its main rivals, keeps the buying bias unchanged around the 93.00 mark on Friday.

Key takeaways

"The number of persons employed part-time for economic reasons declined by 619,000 to 8.4 million in July, reflecting a decline in the number of people whose hours were cut due to slack work or business conditions (-658,000)."

"In July, the number of persons not in the labor force who currently want a job declined by 463,000 to 7.7 million; this measure is 2.8 million higher than in February."

"The largest employment increases in July occurred in leisure and hospitality, government, retail trade, professional and business services, other services, and health care."

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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