Anders Svendsen, an analyst at Nordea Markets, says that today’s U.S. Labour Market Report for April supports Fed Chair Powell’s upbeat assessment of the economy from Wednesday’s FOMC meeting.

• Nonfarm payrolls increased 263k in April + 19k in revisions from the past two reports, somewhat above the consensus estimate at 185k.
• The unemployment rate dropped to 3.6%, while the broad U6 unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.3%.
• The only weak spot was wage growth “only” at 0.2% m/m in April, higher than a month earlier but less than expected.
• Overall, the Labour Market Report supports Fed Chair Powell’s assessment of a healthy outlook for this year.