Hello and welcome to AS USA’s live blog covering financial news
The US economy added 209,000 jobs in June, missing Wall Street estimates and reflecting a slowdown from the previous month, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Economists had expected that 225,000 non-farm payroll jobs were added in June. The report marks the first time in 15 months that non-farm payrolls have come in lower than Wall Street expected.
The June unemployment rate was 3.6%, down from 3.7% in May. Economists had expected 3.6%.
Over the month of June, the number of hires and total separations were little changed at 6.2 million and 5.9 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates once more when they meet later this month.