Stephen Brown, chief economist for North America at Capital Economics, noted that the August US jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 162,000 month-over-month, far exceeding the market expectation of 56,000, making it difficult even for the most dovish policymakers to justify a rate cut. Gains outside healthcare contributed to the increase, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% month-over-month. The possibility of a rate hike at the September Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting will depend on next week's August Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) data, but the strength of the labor market is sufficient to resume rate hike expectations if core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index remains above target.
