Jobs miss
A disappointing jobs report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), with the economy adding only +138,000 jobs in May - comfortably missing expectations of +185,000 - and the figures for the previous two months revised down by a combined -66,000.
Still, that makes it 80 consecutive months of employment growth, a record stretch.
The pace of employment growth has thus pared back in 2017.
Also disappointingly annual earnings growth has slowed to 2.5 per cent.
The participation rate was lower this month at 62.7 per cent.
The unemployment rate fell to just 4.3 per cent, the lowest level since 2001 - the chart mirroring a similar trend in the UK, where the unemployment rate recently hit its lowest level in 42 years.
Not a great result overall, truth be told, with the report implying a potential loss of momentum in the US economy.
Still the figures may yet be good enough to see the Federal Reserve hike rates at its meeting of June 13-14.
