June S&P 500 E-Mini futures (ESM24) are down -0.45%, and June Nasdaq 100 E-Mini futures (NQM24) are down -0.42% this morning after the U.S. non-farm payroll data is released.
The U.S. economy surprised economists by adding many more jobs than expected in May. This eases concerns about a labor market slowdown and could influence the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. There were 272,000 new jobs added in May, significantly higher than the predicted 190,000. This is an increase from the 165,000 jobs added in April. The unemployment rate edged up to 4% in May, the first time it's been above 3.9% since early 2022. This might seem contradictory, but it happened even though fewer people are actively looking for work (as indicated by the lower labor force participation rate).
