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FX Daily: Navigating data inconsistency
US activity figures released on Friday raised more concerns about data inconsistency than any clear direction for markets. Our US economist discusses here the above-consensus December jobs numbers. The US labour market is cooling (for lower-paid and part-time employment in particular) but still too slowly to warrant cuts by the Federal Reserve in the first quarter – especially considering wage growth remains sticky and the unemployment rate low. However, the ISM services report seemed to tell a different story. The employment component dropped dramatically into contraction (from 50.7 to 43.3) and the headline index ... (full story)