The US economy created 227,000 jobs in November

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The U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in November, a sharp rebound after the previous month's total was dampened by hurricanes and the Boeing strike.

Friday's figure, released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, exceeded the consensus forecast of 200,000 by economists polled by Reuters.

This marked a leap from the downward distorted figure of 12,000 new positions originally recorded for October. This figure was revised upwards to 36,000 in Friday's data release.

The unemployment rate increased gradually to 4.2 percent.

Market participants expected the November figure to outperform underlying trends due to the previous month's poor performance.

Treasury yields fell as investors bet that a Federal Reserve rate cut this month was now slightly more likely. Interest rate futures implied an 85 percent probability of a decline, up from 70 percent just before the data was released.

The two-year yield, which reflects interest rate expectations, fell 0.06 percentage points to a five-week low of 4.11 percent.

US stocks were set to open slightly higher, with S&P 500 futures up 0.1 percent.

The jobs report is one of the last major data releases the Fed will review before deciding at its Dec. 17-18 meeting whether to make a third straight interest rate cut.

Jay Powell, Chairman of the Fed said this week, the Fed could “afford to be a little more cautious” in cutting rates because the U.S. economy was in “remarkably good shape” and inflation was a little higher than expected.

Fellow governor Christopher Waller warned that progress in reducing inflation “may be stalling,” while adding that he favored a reduction in inflation in December.

A quarter-point cut this month would bring the target range for the federal funds rate to between 4.25 and 4.5 percent.

Friday's jobs figures contrast with October's total, which was by far the worst such report of the Biden administration, as two deadly hurricanes in the Southeast and the Boeing strike took a toll. harmful consequences on survey responses and on the real economy.

This is a developing story