The U.S. job market showed resilience in April, with stronger-than-expected growth despite ongoing uncertainties in global trade and supply chains. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Nonfarm Payrolls Report, the U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, surpassing analysts’ expectations of 130,000. This figure also exceeded March’s revised job gains of 185,000, which had originally been reported at 228,000.
The unemployment rate for April held steady at 4.2%, matching both expectations and the previous month’s figure.
Following the release of the report, Bitcoin’s price saw a slight dip, moving down to $96,700 after being in rally mode for the last two weeks. Despite the modest decline, the digital asset continues to recover from the initial market shock caused by recent tariff announcements on Liberation Day. The U.S. stock market also reacted positively, with Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures both rising by 0.7%.
This upbeat jobs report is likely to diminish the expectation of immediate Federal Reserve rate cuts. While traders had largely ruled out a May rate move, the possibility of a 60% chance of a rate cut in June and a 90% likelihood of one or more cuts by July had been priced in, according to CME FedWatch data. However, today’s report could lead to a reassessment of those predictions.
In the bond market, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose by four basis points to 4.27%, following the better-than-expected jobs data.
Additional data from the report showed average hourly earnings increased by 0.2% in April, falling slightly short of the anticipated 0.3% rise and matching March’s growth. On a year-over-year basis, average hourly earnings grew by 3.8%, just below the 3.9% forecast, but equal to the prior month’s figure.
