The figures have been greater than double economists’ estimates for 188,000 new jobs, and nicely above December’s acquire of 260,000. On prime of that, revisions to final 12 months’s jobs knowledge revealed employers added roughly 311,000 extra jobs than beforehand estimated throughout the 12 months.

Whereas the job’s positive aspects are nice information for the economic system as an entire, for the Federal Reserve—which has been making an attempt to quash inflation with rate of interest hikes for almost a 12 months—they might be one other roadblock in its struggle to decrease inflation.

“Job creation in January was eye-popping,” stated BMO Wealth Administration’s chief funding strategist Yung-Yu Ma. “Except this labor market power seems to be a one-month blip…the Fed is more likely to dig in and preserve charges increased for longer.”

So as to cool the economic system, Fed officers have raised rates of interest eight instances since March of final 12 months. And in December, the proof of their work began to point out when year-over-year inflation, as measured by the patron worth index, fell to six.5%—from 9.1% at its June peak. However Ronald Temple, chief market strategist on the asset supervisor Lazard, advised Fortune that the newest jobs report reveals that the “inflation battle is much from over.”

“The labor market is extraordinarily tight,” he stated. “The clear takeaway for the Fed must be that monetary situations stay too unfastened to make sure inflation will return to the two% goal.”

Is nice information nonetheless unhealthy information for markets?

For buyers, a powerful labor market is often excellent news, however over the previous 12 months, it’s been a unique story. 

With the Fed trying to sluggish the economic system to struggle inflation, each time buyers acquired constructive information about unemployment or shopper spending, they feared it will drive officers to lift rates of interest even increased to sluggish shopper worth will increase. Some consultants consider this “excellent news is unhealthy information” phenomenon, because it has turn into identified, continues to this present day. 

Raymond James’ Chief Economist Eugenio Aleman advised Fortune that whereas the newest jobs report is “good news” for the U.S. economic system, it’s “in all probability not excellent news” for buyers or the Fed, “which desires to see employment weakening significantly earlier than it concludes its rate of interest will increase.” 

The Fed’s journey towards worth stability might take longer than buyers or central financial institution officers count on, in accordance with Quincy Krosby, chief international strategist for LPL Monetary.

“The undeniably sturdy report is what markets hope for popping out of a recession, however not what you need to see when expectations for the top of the Fed fee hike marketing campaign are immediately challenged by a considerably stronger labor market,” he stated.

Nonetheless, markets’ response to the information was extra muted than anticipated—even amid disappointing earnings from Large Tech giants Apple, Amazon, and Google’s dad or mum firm Alphabet after the bell on Thursday. The S&P 500 was down simply over 0.5% by Friday afternoon, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq—which is often extra influenced by potential rate of interest will increase—dropped roughly 1%.

The higher-than-expected response to the newest jobs report from buyers, and Chair Powell being perceived as optimistic this week at his newest press convention, might imply the period of “excellent news is unhealthy information” is over, in accordance with B. Riley Monetary’s Artwork Hogan.

“Now we’re close to the top of the mountain climbing cycle, excellent news might begin to be perceived as excellent news,” he advised CNBC on Friday. “I believe we’re lastly coming into into a spot the place we are able to have intuitive reactions to financial knowledge and right now is likely to be an instance of that.”

A mushy touchdown?

Recession predictions have poured in from Wall Road, Fortune 500 CEOs, and billionaire buyers over the previous 12 months, however the latest shocking power within the labor market knowledge has some consultants arguing that the Fed might handle a “mushy touchdown” in spite of everything—the place inflation comes down with out sparking a recession.

“The extraordinary flexibility and flexibility inherent within the U.S. labor markets…has lent additional credence to the potential {that a} mushy touchdown for the economic system will not be as elusive as many have advised,” BlackRock’s chief funding officer of World Mounted Revenue, Rick Rieder, advised Fortune Friday.

Rieder argued that central banks could not need to “sacrifice as many roles as beforehand thought” to sluggish inflation worldwide.

“We predict the Fed could be well-served to think about this as a hit and assume that slowing down the tempo of hikes (and probably ending them over the following few months) would enable the job market to bend, however possibly not break,” he stated. 

However currently, economists have famous that measuring the well being of the economic system is turning into more and more difficult attributable to conflicting knowledge.

“It’s a reasonably confused image,” former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers advised Bloomberg Friday. “The labor market is operating very in another way than a lot of different indicators within the economic system the place there are some indicators—significantly in manufacturing—of actual slowing…I believe it’s as troublesome an economic system to learn as I can keep in mind.”

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