August’s nonfarm payroll increases 235K missing the 720K estimate, broadly dropping from July 943K. the smallest gain in 7 months. Declines were mostly in the retail trade sector while job gains were led by the manufacturing, transportation, and private education sectors.

Now, this comes as a surprise because of the wide gap between July’s figures and the August estimate being way off. Investors now take a breather knowing that the Fed will pause tapering the immense bond-buying program during next month. That had left markets spooked for the past few months.

Meanwhile, the USD, the gold, and the disappointing job figures will take the key theme for the week as markets digest the small gain. And despite Powell acknowledging the Spread of the Delta variant at last week’s Jackson hole and its effects on incoming data. The 235K was definitely unforeseen.

U.S. stock futures dropped slightly following the report.  While the USD fluctuated around levels of 92 after dropping to a low of 91.91

The Gold also moved quite sharply from $1809 this morning to hit a high of $1829, hovering around resistance at $1830.

Moments later, stocks opened lower in Wall Street, as news of democrats discussing taxes on stock buybacks emerged, taking a toll of its own on U.S. Shares. Although the Nasdaq remains unaffected.

To conclude, the delta variant has clearly affected hiring and investors will now settle with potentially no changes in the Feds next monetary policy decision.