Stronger Than Expected US Jobs Report Pushes Gold and Stocks Lower; Markets Now Watch September 11 Inflation Data

According to Ecoiran, the US Labor Department said on Friday, September 4, 2026 (13 Shahrivar 1405), that US nonfarm payrolls rose by 162,000 in August, far above the 56,000 economists polled by Reuters had expected; the unemployment rate held at 4.1 percent, and June and July payrolls were revised up by a combined 55,000. The labor force participation rate rose to 61.6 percent and annual hourly wage growth was 3.1 percent.

The report boosted expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike at its September 15 to 16 meeting, pushing the two year Treasury yield to 4.37 percent and pulling the S&P 500 down 0.4 percent; spot gold fell more than 1 percent to around 4,427 dollars an ounce and silver fell about 1.1 percent to near 66.1 dollars an ounce. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh had earlier said at Jackson Hole that the US labor market is consistent with full employment and that monetary policy should focus on inflation. Ecoiran wrote that markets are now focused on the September 11 (20 Shahrivar) US consumer price index, which could decide whether a September rate hike becomes the Fed's leading option.