Mar 07 2016
Next week 111.50 –114.50
Next 3 months 107.00 - 115.00
The below is a topic from market news
U.S. payrolls surge, bolster Fed rate hike prospects
U.S. employment gains surged in February, the clearest sign yet of labor market strength that could further ease fears the economy was heading into recession and allow the Federal Reserve to gradually raise interest rates this year.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 242,000 jobs last month and 30,000 more jobs were added in December and January than previously reported, the Labor Department said on Friday. The unemployment rate held at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent even as more people piled into the labor market.
Despite panic on Wall Street about impending recession, Main Street goes about its business as usual. This report will get the Feds attention, and raises the odds of another rate hike before too long," said Scott Anderson, chief economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco.
The only blemish in the report was a three-cent drop in average hourly earnings, which in part reflected a calendar quirk and the proliferation of low-paying retail and restaurant jobs. The average length of the workweek also fell last month.
The employment report added to data such as consumer and business spending in suggesting the economy had regained momentum after growth slowed to a 1.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter.
Growth estimates for the first quarter are around a 2.5 percent rate, but risks are tilted to the downside after a report from the Commerce Department on Friday showed the trade deficit widened 2.2 percent to $45.7 billion in January.
Economists had forecast employment increasing by 190,000 last month and the jobless rate holding steady.
U.S. stocks were trading higher on the data, while prices for U.S. Treasury debt fell. The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies on concerns about wage growth.
Fears of recession in the wake of poor economic reports in December and slowing growth in China sparked a global stock market rout at the start of the year, causing financial market conditions to tighten.
Though financial markets have priced out bets of a rate hike at the Feds March 15-16 policy meeting, they now see a roughly 50 percent chance of an increase at the September and November meetings, according to CME FedWatch.
