September's 245,000 new jobs topped consensus forecasts by about 100,000. This means the Fed can probably slow the pace of rate cuts, economists said.

A surge in U.S. job growth has financial markets betting the Federal Reserve will follow last month's half-point interest rate reduction with smaller moves, and ignited a debate over whether the policy rate ends up at a higher level than previously expected.

The jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for September was considerably stronger than expected. Economists had been predicting payroll growth of 140-150,000 jobs; instead, payrolls rose by 254,

Odds of a 50 basis point cut dropped to 0% from 53% last week after the strong September jobs report, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Friday’s report capped a week of mostly encouraging data on the job market, including an update indicating layoffs remain relatively low. Such strength helps allay one of Wall Street’s top questions: whether the job market will continue to hold up after the Federal Reserve earlier kept interest rates at a two-decade high.

President Joe Biden made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room on Friday to tout good news about the economy ― and he called out a Republican senator for claiming the numbers are “fake.