Strong jobs just reset Fed rate clock: Jim Paulsen

Strong jobs just reset Fed rate clock: Jim Paulsen

An interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in June is looking more likely again, market watcher Jim Paulsen told CNBC on Friday, shortly after the release of the much stronger-than-expected February jobs report.

The government said Friday the nation's jobless rate in February fell to 5.5 percent and that the economy added 295,000 nonfarm jobs.

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Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, said the unemployment rate could be approaching 5 percent in six months, if the recent downward trend is any indication.

"The unemployment rate is falling at a pace of 1 percent a year or a little more than that," he said in a " Squawk Box " interview. "I just can't imagine a Federal Reserve in this country arguing that we should have [a] zero interest rate structure when we're sub-5 percent unemployment or right at the doorstep of that."

Many market watchers have been debating when the Fed might start raising rates. The June meeting had been the odds-on favorite. There had been a recent slide in expectations to later in the year.




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