December Jobs Report: Live Blog (Update)

Update: Investors got a nice surprise Friday morning -- the U.S. government reported that the domestic economy added 200,000 new jobs in December, with companies creating 212,000 new payrolls. Total job gains have just about doubled since November which saw 100,000 new jobs.

The household survey showed that employment rose 176,000 in December with the unemployment rate falling to 8.5% from a revised 8.7% in November.

Another promising component of Friday's report was that U-6, which takes into account workers who are working part time but would rather be working full time, dropped to 15.2% from 16%. The December level of the U-6 measure is now at its lowest level since February 2009.

Job gains were broad-based, although hiring in the transportation sector looked especially robust, not surprisingly because of seasonal distortions in the month of December. Economists have cautioned that gains here may be reversed come January.

Looking back at the last three months, jobs gains have now averaged 137,000 each month. The latest read suggests that the jobs market is a story of slow but consistent growth.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --

Expectations of a strong reading from the government's job report today are high, but economists are recommending investors temper their enthusiasm.

Automatic Data Processing has a particularly bullish estimate. ADP said companies added an eye-popping 325,000 jobs in December. The consensus forecast for the government's estimate, however, is only about half that amount. Economists say companies probably added 165,000 new jobs, amounting to 150,000 total jobs after accounting for cutbacks in the government sector.

Stocks are struggling to maintain the early year rally, with the market finishing out mixed in the prior two sessions. Investors generally took jobs figures released Thursday as a positive, but it took a while for the S&P 500 and Nasdaqto make their way into positive territory. The market only seemed to return to the old theme of growth in the U.S. economy until after European markets closed. There's a good chance we could see the same type of action on Friday.

We'll be live blogging the market action above. Join us to share your reaction.

-- Written by Chao Deng in New York.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints