US economy only added 266,000 new jobs in April

The US labour market added just 266,000 jobs in April in a big blow to hopes of a sharp recovery in employment. The figure, provided through US non-farm payrolls, was extremely underwhelming with 77 of 79 analyst estimates forecasting an uptick of over 800,000. The big picture is that non-farm employment across the US is still down by 8.2 million below its pre-pandemic level in February 2020 and consensus suggests the data will alleviate some of the pressure on the Federal Reserve to dial down its vast monetary support. Tech stocks led gains on the back of the news which eases mounting fears of higher inflation and stimulus reductions.