The February jobs report from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, released Friday, showed a moderate increase in employment and also a slight increase in the unemployment rate.

The U.S. economy added 151,000 jobs in February, up from a downwardly revised 125,000 in January, but below expectations of 160,000, as tracked by Trading Economics. The unemployment rate ticked unexpectedly higher to 4.1%, above the 4.0% expected.

Unemployed individuals increased by 203,000 to 7.05 million, while employment declined by 588,000 to 163.31 million. The labor force participation rate fell to 62.4%, while the employment-population ratio dipped to 59.9%.

Employment trended up in health care, financial activities, transportation and warehousing and social assistance. Federal government employment declined, possibly reflecting initial DOGE cuts.

• Employment increased in health care (+52,000), financial activities (+21,000), transportation and warehousing (+18,000), and social assistance (+11,000).
• Federal government employment declined by 10,000.
• Average hourly earnings for all employees increased by 0.3% to $35.93, representing a 4.0% increase over the past 12 months.
• The average workweek remained unchanged at 34.1 hours.

Futures on major U.S. indices rose following the release of the jobs report.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY  ), tracking the S&P 500, was up 0.11% at $573.35 and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ  ), tracking the Nasdaq 100 index, was up 0.29% at $489.60 in premarket trading.

The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT  ) was 0.5% higher in premarket trading.

Gold, which is tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD  ), climbed above $2,920 per ounce, approaching record highs.