NEW YORK (Reuters] – The U.S. saw a higher rate of job growth in April than was expected, which underlines the strong foundations of the economy despite a decline in gross domestic products in the first quarter.

Labor Department Friday reported that the nonfarm payrolls grew by 428,000 positions last month. From 431,000, data for March has been revised to show that 428,000 more jobs were added. Reuters economists had predicted that the payroll would increase by 391,000. At 3.6%, the unemployment rate remained constant.

From 3.1% in February, the jobs-workers gap has widened to 3.4%. The average hourly wage rose 0.3%, after rising 0.5% from March.

MARKET REACTION:

STOCKS: S&P e-mini futures briefly turned positive then down 0.55%, pointing to a weak open on Wall Street

BONDS – The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield rose to 3.1126%. Meanwhile, two-year Treasury yields rose 2.7349%.

FOREX: Turned 0.19% Firmer

COMMENTS:

MATTHEW TUTTLE, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, TUTTLE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT

    Futures “are stronger than they were. Market-wise, I’d be most concerned that the announcements often make wrong turns. A selloff would be something I’d watch for. Overall, it’s a positive figure. I think it’s a positive number that you can’t be worrying about, even if there are initial signs of a recession. So far so good.”

    “The unemployment rate being 3.6% after 12 months in a row of adding over 400,000 jobs, to me that’s an economy that’s cranking. I’m in the camp of ‘worried about a recession’ but looking at these numbers there isn’t anything that’s showing weakness.”

PETER CARDILLO, CHIEF MARKET ECONOMIST, SPARTAN CAPITAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK

“The topline number was more than expected but within the range of expectations. And the fact that hourly wages were lower than expected should be good for the bond market and that in turn should be good for the stock market.”

“The (decrease in the) participation rate is not terrible news, in that it suggests the labor market might not tighten any further.”

“As far as the Fed is concerned, the (stock market) moves we’ve been seeing are due to the fact that the Fed really doesn’t have the market’s confidence. The speculators are betting on how much the Fed is going to have to raise rates and whether inflation will make Powell cave and raise interest rates by 75 basis points.”

“The good news is that wages were not going up as fast as they were and that should begin to calm down that speculation. Inflation may be peaking, and the market must recognize this. For now, unfortunately, the markets are testing the will of Powell and the Federal Reserve and are speculating against him.”

“You have to realize what happened yesterday was a test to the market’s technical aspect. Today’s employment data is going to be critical. If we can bounce off this 4100 level and close above it, that could mean the technical deterioration will have ended.”

(Compliled by the global Finance & Markets Breaking News team)