investors are weighing key jobs data

U.S. Treasury yields fell on Friday after October jobs data showed paltry job growth, hurt by hurricanes and striking workers, and well below what Wall Street expected.

Shortly after 8:30 a.m. ET, yields rose on the 10-year treasury fell by 3 basis points to 4.253%. The 2 year treasury Interest rates last stood at 4.096%, after a decline of 7 basis points.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point is equal to 0.01%.

The October nonfarm payrolls report showed a gain of just 12,000 jobs for the month. Economists consulted by Dow Jones expected a growth of 100,000 jobs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics warned that the report was influenced by hurricanes and the attack on Boeing. These complications may have dampened the reaction among traders to the miss.

The unemployment rate remained stable at 4.1%.

The murky jobs report could come into play at next week’s meeting of Federal Reserve officials, where central banks will decide how to follow up on September’s 50 basis point rate cut.

“While the Fed will likely attribute some of the weakness in today’s data to one-off factors, the softness of today’s data makes a case for the Fed continuing its easing cycle at next week’s meeting. Stormy numbers but bright conditions for November Cut by 25 basis points,” Lindsay Rosner, head of multisector fixed income at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a statement.

Investors this week weighed a series of key economic reports released throughout the week, including Thursday’s personal consumer expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.

The index rose 2.1% year-on-year in September and 0.2% from the previous month. Both figures were in line with the expectations of economists consulted by the Dow Jones.

The PCE was the last major inflation insight to be released before the Fed makes its next interest rate decision on November 7. LSEG data showed that markets were last widely pricing in a 25 basis point rate cut from the central bank at the time.