U.S. employers added 165,000 jobs in April, according to the Labor Department, while the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.5 percent. Economists in a Reuters poll expected a reading of 145,000 and unemployment to hold steady at 7.6 percent. Non-farm payrolls came in at a disappointing 88,000 in March.

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But the unemployment rate remained well above the 6.5 percent level at which the central bank has said it will start raising interest rates. On Wednesday, the Fed said it was prepared to "increase or reduce" the monthly pace of its $85 billion in bond purchases, depending on economic conditions.

"The [jobs] number beat consensus and also importantly, the revision from last month tells the story of a not-as-sluggish labor market," said Troy Logan, managing director and senior economist at Warren Financial Service. "However, the unemployment rate is still high. So that tells us that the Fed is going to continue with its accommodative policy–that means we have Fed support, which is good for asset prices and a jobs market which is not getting worse."



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"Adding to that, earlier this week, we saw that housing price levels have actually gone up," said Logan. "So in our view, the U.S. real estate market bottomed in 2012 and we're clearly on an upward trend in 2013."



And global markets cheered the employment report, with European shares turning decisively higher and the dollar jumping against the euro and the yen. Oil prices rallied, while gold, often viewed as a safe haven, slid near $1,460 an ounce. Treasury prices also declined.

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