U.S. added 50,000 jobs in December as unemployment rate fell to 4.4%

Bitcoin continued to hold just above $90,000 in the minutes following the report. The U.S. labor market produced mixed data in December, marking the first month of jobs numbers unaffected by the U.S. government shutdown that began in October. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 50,000 last month, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Friday morning. That was lower than economist forecasts for 60,000. November’s originally reported 64,000 job gain was revised modestly lower to 56,000. October’s originally reported job loss of 105,000 was revised sharply lower to a loss of 173,000. The December unemployment rate, however, was better than forecast, falling to 4.4% versus the consensus outlook of 4.5% and November’s 4.6%. The price of bitcoin BTC$91,691.35 was little changed in t