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The US economy added 256,000 jobs in December, beating expectations and sending yields on long-term US government debt to their highest level since 2023.

The figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday beat the expectations of economists polled by Reuters of 160,000, and was above the downwardly revised figure of 212,000 positions added in November.

Treasury yields rose as investors bet the Federal Reserve will be slower to cut interest rates this year. Futures markets pushed back the expected timing of the first quarter-point rate cut to September from June ahead of the data release.

The two-year Treasury yield, which tracks expectations for interest rates and moves inversely to bond prices, rose 0.11 percentage points to 4.37 percent. The benchmark 10-year yield rose 0.09 percentage points to 4.77 percent – the highest level since November 2023.

Stock futures fell, with contracts tracking the S&P 500 falling 0.8 percent. The dollar rose 0.4 percent against a basket of six other currencies.

Friday’s figures showed the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent, compared with 4.2 percent in November.

the jobs The data for December comes amid a selloff in the global government bond market, driven in part by growing expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates by 2025.

The central bank in December predicted just two quarter-point rate cuts this year, compared to a projection of four in September, partly due to continued strength in the labor market.

President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to cut taxes, impose tariffs and restrict immigration also lead to feeding signaling that it will be more cautious in 2025.

Jeff Schmid, a senior Fed official, said on Thursday that the US central bank is “relatively close” to achieving its inflation and employment goals, underscoring expectations that policymakers will refrain from sharp interest rate cuts this year.

The Fed began cutting its key interest rate in September, reducing it to 1 full percentage point by the end of 2024.

At its next meeting later this month, the US central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates steady in the target range between 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent.

This is a developing story