U.S. jobs underperform even lowest estimates

August's non-farm payrolls showed just 235,000 jobs had been added in the U.S. for the month, down from 943,000 the month prior and 500,000 below estimates. The disappointing data has almost entirely been attributed to Delta variant concerns with the leisure and hospitality sector registering no new jobs while the number of American workers working from home increased. The unemployment rate did still tick down from 5.4% to 5.2% as the record high demand for workers managed to keep the labour market recovery going. Wall Street opened lower as investors attempted to weigh the strength of the U.S. recovery and how the data release affects the Federal Reserve's next policy move.