Jobless Figures Surprisingly Weak

Not so great news out of the Labor Department this morning: The economy created 142,000 jobs in September, well below forecasts of more than 200,000, reports the AP. Even so, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.1%. The 142,000 may initially sound worse than last month's weak figure of 173,000, but that got revised downward to an even weaker 136,000. Now the big question: How much will this sway the Fed on raising interest rates? USA Today had projected that a jobs count above 200,000 would give Janet Yellen the "cover" to do so, but the actual figure throws that into doubt.

"The market hates surprises, and these numbers are certainly surprising," observes Paul Vigna in the live blog at the Wall Street Journal. "Weaker across the board, and the market's initial reaction is to hate it. Dow futures are now down 100 points, and the yield on the US 10-year has fallen under 2%," which is "pretty sharp." (More unemployment stories.)