Hiring Comes in Stronger Than Expected

The new jobs report beat expectations, showing that employers added 177,000 jobs in April, reports CNBC. Analysts anticipated about 133,000. The new figure is down from 228,000 in March, though it was positive enough to cheer Wall Street: Dow futures were up more than 300 points in the wake of the news. (Hopes for trade talks with China also contributed to the market's optimism.) The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained at 4.2%. This is the first jobs report to include data after President Trump rolled out tariffs on April 2.

The surveys behind the report, however, were conducted in the second week of April, which was probably too early to show any major impacts from tariffs, Bloomberg reports. "Immigration and trade restrictions are likely to weigh on payrolls in the coming months, but we don't think they'll have a substantial impact in April," said Shruti Mishra, an economist at Bank of America Corp. "That said, risks are to the downside." (This story was updated with the release of the new figures.)