January unemployment figure beats expectations in the US

Januarys non-farm payrolls number in the US was released today. The figure came in at 151,000 jobs created in January, this missed market forecasts of 190,000. Despite the figure falling short of estimates the unemployment figure which was set to remain at 5% dropped to 4.9% beating expectations. This positive figure came in along with an increase in hours worked and average earnings. Equity markets quietly gave back earlier gains and the dollar saw a rally back to strength as it paved the way for more speculation on further increases in the US base rate over 2016.