Upturn In The Labor Market

(Reuters) - World stocks remained below this week's 8-month peak on Friday while demand for German government debt rose as concerns about Chinese and euro zone growth and a renewed focus on sovereign debt problems in Italy and Spain kept investors cautious. Against a backdrop of slowing economies, Italy's planned bond sales next week are already being touted as a possible flashpoint for the peripheral euro zone debt crisis. Growth is an essential component of plans by struggling euro zone countries to reduce high debt levels. The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was largely steady on the day, having hit its highest level in nearly 8 months earlier this week. The rally has stalled on the back of weak factory activity data in China and the euro zone, which has somewhat undermined ...

After a listless trading week, even as China raised concern about growth in the world's second largest economy, with solid efforts aiming to tackle the sovereign-debt crisis in the 17-nation euro, the superpower economy will dominate the headlines next week, hopefully, with healthy figures to demonstrate the revival of the stressed housing market. Well, it's all about the U.S. real estate market and housing recovery in the upcoming week! With a bag of recent reports ready to be unzipped, traders are already eager to take a sneak-peak and feel whether the U.S housing industry is still on the upturn, spurred with improving outlook for construction and most importantly, a strengthening job market. "The housing market is moving toward more sustainable growth" Barry Rutenberg, chairman of the ...

(Reuters) - The United States created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped to a near three-year low, giving a boost to President Barack Obama. Nonfarm payrolls jumped 243,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, as factory jobs grew by the most in a year. The jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent - the lowest since February 2009 - from 8.5 percent in December. The gain in employment was the largest since April and it far outstripped the 150,000 predicted in a Reuters poll of economists. It hinted at underlying economic strength and lessened chances of further stimulus from the Federal Reserve. "More pistons in the economic engine have begun to fire, pointing to accelerating economic growth. One of the happiest persons reading this ...

(Reuters) - Home sales hit an 11-month high in December and the number of properties on the market was the fewest in nearly seven years, pointing to a nascent recovery in the housing sector. The National Association of Realtors said on Friday existing home sales increased 5 percent to an annual rate of 4.61 million units, with all four of the nation's regions recording gains. Sales of both multifamily and single-family homes rose. "It seems that the housing sector may be slowly picking itself up off of the mat," said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut. The fairly upbeat data and reports that debt-stricken Greece was close to a deal with its private-sector creditors pushed U.S. Treasury debt prices lower. Stocks on Wall Street were mixed, while the dollar was ...

The euro scaled two-week peaks against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as a solid Spanish debt auction and generally improving tolerance for risk prompted investors to further reduce bearish positions on the single currency that had become overextended. Analysts, however, believed the euro's gains are temporary and its downtrend could resume on any negative news out of the euro zone. For now though investors were only too happy to unwind their euro shorts as they prepare to reload their short positions once the upturn runs out of steam. Helping the euro's rebound was Spain's sale of 6.61 billion euros in government bonds on Thursday, more than its announced target, analysts said, in an auction which analysts said went well supported by domestic banks and a pickup in appetite for riskier ...

(Reuters) - The U.S. housing market, once the epicenter of the global financial collapse that spawned today's European debt crisis, is on the verge of delivering some positive news. For the first time since 2005, U.S. residential construction looks set to expand a little next year, and it could add one- or two-tenths of a percentage point to GDP growth in 2012 -- a mere sliver, but one that would add to the picture of a slowly healing U.S. economy. Every scrap of extra support would help the United States withstand the spreading damage from the crisis in the euro zone, which threatens to push a global slowdown into a deeper and more dangerous recession. China is slowing quickly as its red-hot property market cools and exports to the European Union, its largest trade partner, sink after ...

The Weekly Bottom Line : 18/11/2011 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK United States U.S. equity markets tumbled this week as pessimism mounted over the ability of policymakers in Europe to rein in the sovereign debt-crisis and over the Supercommittee in the U.S. to deliver on a plan to reduce deficits due by November 23. Despite the dour week on the market, economic data was actually quite good. Retail sales rose by 0.5% in October, beating expectations. Meanwhile, consumer prices fell 0.1% in the month as gasoline prices pulled back. The recent upturn in economic momentum will come to little if policymakers in both Europe and the United States cannot act decisively to restore confidence to financial markets. Canada Crude oil price topped US$100 per barrel this week, due in large ...

Weekly Economic and Financial Commentary U.S. Review Modest Recovery Is Still Under Way Retail sales in September delivered an upside surprise, rising in nearly every major category. The stronger-than-expected increase was led by motor vehicle purchases and solid back-to-school sales. Another sign the economy continued to gain some momentum was the recently released data on the trade balance. Based on our calculations, trade could make a modest contribution to real GDP in the third quarter. Initial jobless claims fell to 404,000, but the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed there are 4.6 unemployed job seekers for each available job. No News Is Good News The flow of economic releases this week was fairly light, but data continued to reflect an economy that is ...

Record-high long-term unemployment is testing politicians and central bankers to the utmost as the impact of a shortfall in demand is amplified by an aging population, a mismatch of skills and inadequate efforts to get people back to work. That's a summary not of Europe, typically associated with rigid hiring and firing laws and excessive non-wage costs, but of the United States, long renowned for a labor market as dynamic as its entrepreneurs. America's jobs machine is now spluttering badly, an ominous development for businesses worldwide hoping for a revival in the world's largest economy to relieve the gloom cast by the euro zone debt crisis. Figures due on October 7 are likely to show the unemployment rate stuck at 9.1 percent in October despite near-zero interest rates. Alarmingly, ...