Jobs Data Give Fed Options

Updated from 11:37 a.m. EDT

U.S. job growth continued at a robust pace in May, but wasn't considered strong enough to provoke a 50-basis-point interest rate hike at the end of this month.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 248,000 last month, surpassing expectations for an increase of 225,000. The pace of growth has slowed from April and March, when a revised 346,000 and 353,000 jobs were created, respectively.

The unemployment rate held steady at 5.6%, in line with projections and average hourly earnings rose 0.3%, slightly above the 0.2% estimate. ...