Back with the US jobs data, and the weaker than expected headline figure adds to the feeling the Federal Reserve erred in raising interest rates in December, says Larry Elliott:

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. It’s easy to be wise after the event and say a decision was a mistake. But it’s hard to imagine that the Federal Reserve would have raised interest rates in December had it known then what it knows now.

News that employment growth as measured by the increase in non-farm payrolls was up by 151,000 is just the latest piece of evidence to suggest that the US economy is going through a tough period. Growth in the fourth quarter was weak, sales of durable goods suggest that businesses are reluctant to invest, and consumers are saving rather than spending the windfall from lower oil prices.

Even so, Janet Yellen, chairman of the Fed, is not going to hit the panic button and reverse December’s increase – at least not yet. There are two reasons for that: a U-turn would be a considerable blow to the central bank’s reputation; and the Fed will want to see more evidence before it decides that the world’s biggest economy is heading for a recession rather than simply going through a temporary soft patch.