Forex analysis In the US, first time jobless claims fell to the lowest level in six weeks as the rebound in the U.S. economy encourages companies to make fewer cuts in payrolls.
First-time jobless applications declined 14,000 in the week ended March 20 to 442,000, lower than anticipated according to Labor Department figures published yesterday. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance decreased, and those getting extended benefits also fell.
Employers are slowing the pace of payroll reductions, indicating budding optimism in an economy that’s been lifted by a pickup in manufacturing and expansion overseas. Companies now need to move beyond jobs cuts and start hiring to ensure the recovery from the deepest recession since the 1930s is sustained.
President Barack Obama signed an $18 billion jobs bill into law on March 18th that provides a tax break to companies hiring unemployed workers, saying additional steps are needed to drive down unemployment. “There’s a lot more that we’re going to need to do to spur hiring in the private sector and bring about a full economic recovery,” Obama said.
The USD, which had reached a ten month high against the Euro on Wednesday in the forex market, fell back slightly yesterday as the Euro gained 0.43% to close at EUR 1.3329.
Elsewhere in the US, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday said the U.S. economy still needs low interest rates and that the central bank will be ready to tighten credit “at the appropriate time.”
“The economy continues to require the support of accommodative monetary policies,” Bernanke said today in prepared testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, repeating parts of a statement to the panel from last month. “However, we have been working to ensure that we have the tools to reverse, at the appropriate time, the currently very high degree of monetary stimulus.”
The central bank chief and his colleagues have been outlining their strategy for tightening credit in time to prevent the recovery from stoking inflation. Officials are concerned that the federal funds rate, their main policy tool for 20 years, isn’t as effective as before in influencing borrowing costs.
“As the expansion matures, the Federal Reserve will need to begin to tighten monetary conditions to prevent the development of inflationary pressures,” Bernanke said in the text of remarks. “We have full confidence that, when the time comes, we will be ready to do so.”
Responding to questions, Bernanke said the “unemployment situation is very weak,” with 40% of those without jobs being out of work for a long time, and the housing market is “still quite weak.”
When Bernanke convened the Federal Open Market Committee for its March 16 meeting, policy makers left the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of zero to 0.25% and repeated a pledge to keep rates low for an “extended period.”
In the UK retail sales rebounded more than economists forecast in February with the biggest jump since May 2008 as Britons raised spending on goods from electrical items to auto fuel. Sales rose 2.1% from January, when they slumped by a more-than-previously-expected 3% in the longest cold snap for three decades. Excluding fuel, sales rose 1.6%, the most since June.
The increase in sales for February was led by an 11.2% jump at household goods stores, the statistics office said. Auto fuel sales rose by 9.1% and textile, clothing and footwear shops had a 1.1% gain. Food stores showed a 1.2% drop, the most since June 2008.
The January sales drop was revised down from a decline of 1.8% previously reported because of late returns of data from retailers, the statistics office said.
Next, the U.K.’s second-biggest clothing retailer said today full-year earnings rose 20% as it expanded Internet and catalog sales and sold more goods at full price in stores.
Fetch practical info about the topic of cash for gold commercial – please study this site. The times have come when concise info is really only one click away, use this opportunity.
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
