Friday’s report raised concerns that inflation may prove to be even stickier than feared, which could hinder the Federal Reserve from easing back on its big interest-rate hikes. The higher rates are meant to fight inflation by putting the brakes on the economy. The S&P 500 fell 1%. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which tends to track expectations for future Fed action, spiked to 4.36% from 4.19% just before the jobs report was released.
The government report showed that wages for workers rose 5.1% last month from a year earlier. That's an acceleration from October's 4.9% gain and easily topped economists' expectations for a slowdown. While that's good news for workers who are struggling to keep up with inflation, the Federal Reserve worries too-strong gains could cause high inflation to become further entrenched in the economy.
The stronger-than-expected jobs and wage data sent Treasury yields jumping on expectations the Fed may have be more aggressive about raising rates to get inflation under control. Signs of weakening trade, especially for export dependent economies in Asia, have deepened worries over slowing growth in China and its implications for the global economy.
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