US job creation at 151k in February, slightly weaker than estimates

The US economy added 151,000 jobs in February which was slightly below what the market was expecting of 160,000. Alongside this, unemployment for the US crept up to 4.1% against expectations it would remain flat at 4%. Whilst this jobs number was a miss against expectations, it was only a small miss and with January’s jobs number revised down to 125,000 the February figure remains higher than that of January showing an increase in Jobs being made. Stocks reacted slightly negatively in what continues to be one of the worst weeks for global markets going back to September of 2024.