US adds 165,000 jobs in October, nearly triple expectations; markets now bet on a rate hike

US employers added 165,000 jobs in October, against economists' expectations of about 65,000, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. The unemployment rate is 4.1 percent and has ranged between 4.1 and 4.3 percent since March.

Figures for the previous two months were revised up by a combined 84,000: August from 133,000 to 186,000 and September from 29,000 to 60,000. Average hourly earnings rose 0.4 percent to $38, or 3.1 percent year on year. The biggest gains came in professional and business services (70,000), health care (42,000), transportation and warehousing (25,000) and manufacturing (19,000).

Market reaction

The two-year Treasury yield rose six basis points to 4.52 percent and the ten-year three points to 4.87 percent. The dollar index gained 0.7 percent. According to Reuters, markets now see a 78 percent chance that the Fed raises rates in December, up from 70 percent before the release.

"That just confirms that the Fed has no choice but to raise rates in December," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

Wall Street meanwhile partly recovered from Thursday's rout: at around 19:00 UTC the S&P 500 was up 0.72 percent and the Nasdaq 1.42 percent.