This is just a nice recap of the jobs number released today. No doubt the number came in higher than expected and is hitting gold, and helping the US dollar. Whether we trust the number or not traders are clearly pricing in a December rate hike. Including Bill Gross – his comments are at the bottom of the page.

Click here to visit the original posting page over at Reuters.

…

U.S. job growth surged in October and the unemployment rate hit a 7-1/2-year low of 5.0 percent in a show of economic strength that makes it much more likely the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 271,000 last month, the largest rise since December 2014, the Labor Department said on Friday. In addition, average hourly earnings rose a respectable 9 cents.

The unemployment rate now stands at its lowest level since April 2008 and is in a range many Fed officials see as consistent with full employment.

Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, called the jobs growth figure “astounding.”

“It’s pretty clear that the Fed would be justified in hiking in December if the economy doesn’t hit another air pocket,” Jacobsen said.

The reaction in financial markets was swift and sharp.

Prices for U.S. Treasuries plummeted, pushing yields higher, and the dollar rose to a 6-1/2-month high against a basket of currencies as investors braced for higher borrowing costs. U.S. stocks were trading lower.

Futures markets shifted to imply a 72 percent chance of a rate hike next month, up from 58 percent before the data.

“We’ve indicated that conditions look like they could be right for an increase,” Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, who has argued against a rate hike, said in an interview with CNBC. “The real side of the economy is looking a lot better.”

The solid report added to strong services sector and automobile sales data in painting an upbeat picture of the economy at the start of the fourth quarter.

With speeches from several Fed officials, including Chair Janet Yellen, suggesting a low bar for a December rate increase, economists had said ahead of the report that monthly job gains above 150,000 in October and November would be sufficient grounds for the first increase in overnight borrowing costs since 2006.

The U.S. central bank has held rates near zero for nearly seven years.

The Fed has made clear, both in its statement after its last policy meeting in October and subsequent comments from Yellen, that a rate hike is firmly on the table at its Dec. 15-16 meeting.

BROAD-BASED GAINS

Economists had forecast nonfarm payrolls increasing 180,000 last month and the unemployment rate remaining at 5.1 percent. In addition to the unexpectedly stronger job gains last month, data for August and September were revised to show 12,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

The report bolstered views that economic growth will regain momentum in the fourth quarter after braking sharply to a 1.5 percent annual pace in the July-September period.

Last month’s rise in wages, which have been almost stagnant despite a tightening labor market, lifted the year-on-year reading to 2.5 percent. That was the biggest increase since July 2009 and could give the Fed confidence that inflation will gradually move towards its 2 percent target.

There were improvements in other labor market measures that Fed officials are eyeing as they contemplate a rate hike.

A broad measure of joblessness that includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time employment fell two-tenths of a point to 9.8 percent, the lowest level since May 2008.

The employment-population ratio rose to 59.3 percent from 59.2 percent in September. But the labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, held at a near 38-year low of 62.4 percent.

Employment gains in October were broad-based, though manufacturing added no jobs and mining shed 4,000 positions.

Manufacturing has been hurt by a strong dollar, efforts by businesses to reduce bloated inventory and spending cuts by energy companies cutting back on well drilling and exploration in response to lower oil prices.

The mining sector has shed 109,000 jobs since peaking in December 2014. Oilfield services provider Schlumberger (SLB.N) last month announced further layoffs in addition to the 20,000 jobs it has already eliminated.

Construction payrolls, however, increased 31,000 last month, the biggest gain since February.

The services sector added 241,000 jobs in October, with large gains in retail, health and leisure. Professional and business services added 78,000 jobs, the largest gain since last November. Government payrolls increased 3,000 last month.

Here are Bill’s comments.