A stronger-than-expected — albeit stale — September jobs report is muddying the picture of whether a split Federal Reserve will cut or hold interest rates steady at its next policy meeting.
Experts and markets are divided.
“They will not cut rates,” Wilmer Stith, bond portfolio manager for Wilmington Trust, said Thursday.
While payroll growth was stronger, Stith noted that the unemployment rate on an unrounded basis was 4.44%, which could create concern for some members of the Fed who view a level of 4.5% as cautionary.
“Getting to that 4.5% unemployment would sort of raise their anxieties