January Jobs Report 'Not Too Hot, Not Too Cold' Leaves Interest Rate Cuts Unlikely: Expert

January's nonfarm payrolls came in well-below expectations, rising by 143,000 and missing economist expectations of 170,000, as tracked by TradingEconomics. Experts are weighing in on the slowdown in job growth and what it means for the future of interest rates. 

Expert Ideas: Economists are pointing to "one-off" factors that affected January's cooler-than-expected jobs report and see the Federal Reserve as likely holding interest rates steady in the near term. 

Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, pointed to the Los Angeles wildfires and other weather events as headwinds that contributed to January's cool jobs report. However, Adams sees the labor market remaining strong. 

"Looking through a lot of noise, the jobs report shows the labor market kicked off 2025 in good shape. There were big temporary drags in January, but the trend over the last few months was revised to look stronger," Adams said. 

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Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management , also suggested the January report was impacted by the wildfires and said the job market even appears to be "heating up." 

He pointed to the drop in the unemployment rate to 4% and an uptick in average hourly earnings as evidence of strong labor market conditions. 

"The Fed should feel quite cozy sitting tight the rest of winter knowing that it was the right decision to hit the pause button on rate cuts," Ripley said. 

Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial, highlighted the benchmark revisions which show job growth over the past year was softer than originally reported. He also pointed to the low unemployment rate as a reason for the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged in the near term. 

"This morning's report may be considered a Goldilocks report – not too hot and not too cold," Roach said. 

Markets React: All major U.S. indices are red on Friday with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), tracking the S&P 500, down 0.65% at $608.97 and the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ), tracking the Nasdaq 100 index, down 1.28% at $529.78 at the time of publication. 

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