US non-farm payrolls short of expectations

The number of new jobs added to the US economy in October fell short of expectations today, coming in at 161,000 new jobs compared to the forecast 173,000, yet still represents a solid number. At a policy meeting this week, the US Federal Reserve said that they were awaiting a key data release to strengthen the case for a December rate hike, and markets are taking this release as that sign that the opportunity for a December hike is still there. Expectations for the hike have now risen from 76% to 80% off of the news.