US December non-farm payrolls +256K vs +160K expected

• Two-month net revision: -8K versus +56K prior
• Unemployment rate: 4.1% versus 4.2% expected and 4.2% prior
• Unrounded unemployment rate: 4.0855% vs 4.2457% prior
• Prior unemployment rate: revised to 4.2% from 4.2%
• Participation rate: 62.5% versus 62.5% expected
• U6 underemployment rate: 7.5% versus 7.8% prior
• Average hourly earnings: +0.3% m/m versus +0.3% expected and +0.4% prior
• Prior avg hourly earnings: +0.2% (revised from +0.4%)
• Average hourly earnings: +3.9% y/y versus 4.0% expected and 4.0% prior
• Average weekly hours: 34.3 versus 34.3 expected and 34.3 prior
• Change in private payrolls: +223K versus +135K expected and +194K prior
• Change in manufacturing payrolls: -13K versus +5K expected and +22K prior
• Government jobs: +33K versus +33K prior
• Full time: +87K versus -355K prior
• Part time: +247K versus +23K prior

What a report! This is a very strong one and runs against all the other main surveys, which haven’t been anything spectacular. The US dollar is soaring on the headlines, with moves of 80-100 pips across the board.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.