Weak Non Farm Payrolls disappointed markets

The US provided fresh data on nonfarm employment and unemployment rates in December, which were much worse than analysts' forecasts.

In particular, according to the country's Department of Labor, the US economy lost 140 thousand jobs in the last month of the 2020 year, while analysts expected employment to grow by 71 thousand. This is not surprising, however, as yesterday's ADP report showed that private businesses laid off 123,000 workers in December.

The November figure was revised from 245 thousand to 336 thousand new jobs.

The unemployment rate last month remained unchanged at 6.7%, although experts had expected the rate to rise to 6.8%.

Analysts point out that the employment rate fell for the first time since April, when a drop of almost 21 million was recorded.