US NONFARM PAYROLLS FORECAST: JULY NFP RELEASE EXPECTED TO SHOW STEADY JOB MARKET

US Nonfarm Payrolls are forecast to rise 200K in July vs. 209K seen in June.

The headline NFP and Average Hourly Earnings are key to the Fed’s rate hike outlook.

US Unemployment Rate is expected to hold steady at 3.6%.

Following the releases of significant US employment data this week, market participants await the all-important US Nonfarm Payrolls report due this Friday, which could influence the US Federal Reserve (Fed) decision on whether to raise the policy rate again this year.

Private sector employment in the US increased by 324,000 in July, Automatic Data Procession reported on Wednesday. This reading surpassed the market expectation of 324,000 by a wide margin. “The economy is doing better than expected and a healthy labor market continues to support household spending,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP. In response to the upbeat data, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield climbed to its highest level since November above 4.1% midweek and the US Dollar Index, which gauges the USD valuation against a basket of six major currencies, advanced to its highest level in nearly a month above 102.50.

Earlier in the week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the number of job openings on the last business day of June declined to 9.58 million from 9.61 million in May. Meanwhile, the Employment Index of the ISM Manufacturing PMI survey declined to 44.4 in July from 48.1, showing an ongoing decline in the number of manufacturing jobs.