Fed Seen Staying Course on Tapering Even Amid Weaker Job Growth
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The weakest back-to-back gains in U.S. payrolls in three years are unlikely to prompt the Federal Reserve to shelve its strategy of gradually trimming bond purchases, according to economists.
Hiring rose by 113,000 in January, less than the 180,000 gain that was the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg and following a 75,000 increase the prior month, Labor Department data showed yesterday in Washington. Unemployment fell to 6.6 percent, the least since October 2008, from 6.7 percent in December.