The Labor Department announced that nonfarm payrolls increased by 209,000 jobs in July after an upwardly revised 231,000 increase in the prior month (originally 222,000). Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent last month from 4.4 percent in June. Economists had forecast 183,000 new jobs and the jobless rate to slide to 4.3 percent.

According to the report, the labor force participation rate was at 62.9 percent in July, up from 62.8 percent in June. In the meantime, hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 9 cents or 0.3 percent in July (compared to an unrevised 0.2 percent gain in June and economists' forecast of 0.3 percent advance), while the average workweek was unchanged at 34.5 hours in July (in-line with economists' forecast for 34.5 hours).