• The US economy added 210K jobs in November, below the 550K expected. 
• The dollar weakened in a kneejerk reaction to the data. 

Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by 210K in November versus the median forecast for a 550K rise, data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday. That marked a substantial decline versus the 546K jobs added to the US economy in October.  

The unemployment rate saw a substantially larger than expected drop to 4.2% from 4.6% in October, versus expectations for a drop to 4.5%. Meanwhile, the MoM gain in Average Hourly Earnings came in at 0.3%, below expectations for it to hold at October's 0.4% MoM level. That meant that the YoY rate of Average Hourly Earnings growth remained at 4.8% in November versus median forecasts for a rise to 5.0%. 

Market Reaction

The Dollar Index saw kneejerk weakness in the immediate aftermath of the not as strong as hoped for labour market report, dropping back to test the 96.00 level from previously above 96.20. Analysts may now question whether the data was strong enough for the Fed to justify an acceleration of its QE taper in January when it meets to decide on policy later in the month.