Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose by 678K in February, well above the median economist forecast for a 400K rise, data published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday. January’s NFP number also saw a small upwards revision to 481K from 467K. The much larger than expected headline beat was driven by a much larger than expected 654K rise in Private Nonfarm Payrolls versus the expected 378K gain, with January’s number also revised slightly higher to 448K from 444K. Manufacturing Payrolls rise 36K on the month, well above the expected 20K gain and much higher than January’s 16K gain that had been revised up from 13K.
to be updated …