Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY SEPT 8

A24

BUSINESSTuesday 8 September 2015

EU markets soothed by Asia assurances Snapshots of US job market:

The Associated Press jing’s intervention averted employers adding fewer Solid hiring but still-tepid pay
LONDON (AP) — Attempts a bigger crisis, according jobs than forecast. The Fed
by Chinese officials to re- to a central bank state- has kept its benchmark in- JOSH BOAK
assure investors helped Eu- ment. terest rate close to zero AP Economics Writer
ropean markets post some ASIA’S DAY: Despite those since late 2008, which has WASHINGTON (AP) — On Labor Day weekend 2015,
modest gains Monday, on attempts to reassure, the pushed up stock prices. the U.S. job market has found an old sweet spot: 5.1
a day when trading activi- Shanghai Composite In- ANALYST TAKE: “Given percent unemployment — many miles from the 10
ty was diminished by a U.S. dex ended 2.5 percent that Chinese investors are percent joblessness America endured back in 2009.
holiday. lower to 3,080.42 after back after a short break It’s the lowest rate in more than seven years, sugges-
KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, fluctuating between gains last week, coupled with tive of healthy hiring levels that have traditionally fos-
France’s CAC-40 closed and losses. Hong Kong’s increased uncertainty tered rising incomes, consumer spending and eco-
up 0.6 percent at 4,549.64 Hang Seng lost 1.2 per- about the Fed’s next pol- nomic growth.
while Germany’s DAX rose cent to 20,583.52. Tokyo’s icy move ... stock market In August, the unemployment rate fell on the strength
0.7 percent to 10,108.61. Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent volatility could remain of a decent if less-than-stellar 173,000 added jobs. And
The FTSE 100 index of lead- to 17,860.47 while India’s high,” said Fawad Raza- most economists expect the government to eventual-
ing British shares ended 0.5 Sensex declined 0.3 per- qzada, technical analyst ly revise up that job gain because of seasonal trends
percent higher at 6,074.52. cent to 23,135.45. Syd- at Forex.com. that are notoriously difficult to calculate.
Wall Street was closed ney’s S&P/ASX 200 shed ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. Friday’s employment data reflected the durability of
Monday for the Labor Day 0.2 percent to 5,030.40 crude fell $1.50 to $44.55 the U.S. economy, which has so far withstood distress
holiday. and Seoul’s Kospi was off per barrel in electronic worldwide: Tumultuous stock markets, a sharp slow-
CHINA RHETORIC: China’s 0.2 percent at 1,883.22. trading on the New York down in China, a perpetually struggling European
central bank governor, US JITTERS: The U.S. remains Mercantile Exchange. economy and the start of a recession in Canada,
finance minister and se- in focus in the run-up to Brent crude, used to price America’s largest trading partner.
curities agency all tried next week’s policy meet- international oils, lost $1.70 Yet the report also spotlighted aspects of an econom-
to reassure investors over ing of the Federal Reserve. to $47.91 in London. ic expansion that has been steady without being fully
the weekend that market A mixed August jobs report CURRENCIES: Trading in satisfying: Wage growth remains slight. And millions
turmoil was ending. At a has left investors wonder- currency markets was remain relegated to the sidelines of the job market.
meeting of the Group of ing what the Fed will do. subdued with the euro Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche
20 major economies. Peo- Friday’s figures showed the up 0.2 percent at $1.1171 Bank, grades the job market as “good” but not great.
ple’s Bank of China Gov. U.S. unemployment rate and the dollar 0.3 percent “It’s a solid B,” LaVorgna said. “Definitely not an A.”
Zhou Xiaochuan said Bei- fell to a seven-year low but higher at 119.35 yen.q — 5.1% UNEMPLOYMENT: That figure serves as com-
pelling evidence for why the U.S. job market is the
A man looks at an electronic stock indicator of a securities firm in Tokyo. Attempts by Chinese envy of most of the industrialized world. The unem-
officials to reassure investors helped European markets post some modest gains Monday, on a ployment rate has dropped a full percentage point
day when trading activity was diminished by a U.S. holiday. over the past 12 months, and for a good reason: More
Americans are finding work.
(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) At previous times during the recovery from the Great
Recession, the unemployment rate had dipped only
Glencore plans to issue stock, slash debt because many people had abandoned their job
searches and were no longer counted as unem-
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss com- selling $2 billion in assets last month. ployed.
modities giant Glencore through the end of next The company said it re- Employers have added nearly 2.6 million workers since
has announced a $10.2 year. mains “very positive” last year — about 764,000 more than the number who
billion plan to cut debt Glencore said in a state- about the long-term, say- left the workforce to retire, start school or end their job
and issue shares to adapt ment Monday that the ing copper and zinc were hunts in frustration, according to the government’s
to plunging market prices. moves are “prudent” in “supply-challenged” and monthly survey of households.
The plan involves issuing the face of market volatil- key ingredients of future A 5.1 percent unemployment rate also fits the Fed-
$2.5 billion of shares, as ity and speculation. They global growth. It predict- eral Reserve’s picture of a normal economy. And so
well as suspending its divi- come on top of cuts to ed thermal coal will have it heightens expectations that the Fed will raise inter-
dend, further reducing its capital expenditure and an important place in the est rates from record lows later this month. Maximizing
capital expenditures and costs already announced global energy mix.q employment is one of the Fed’s mandates.
But the Fed must balance that task with its other man-
date: To stabilize prices. And across the economy, in-
flation remains well short of the Fed’s 2 percent target,
at which point a rate hike would be appropriate.
— 221,000 JOBS: That’s the average monthly job
growth over the past three months. That average
could rise later because economists say seasonal ad-
justment quirks could cause the August jobs figure of
173,000 to be revised up by 50,000 or more.
Why do job gains of more than 200,000 matter so
much? It’s roughly twice the monthly influx of workers
into the job market. It means that demand for workers
exceeds the incoming supply and suggests that em-
ployers foresee continued customer demand.
Tellingly, hiring in August shifted away from sectors
with heavy exposure to the global economy. Manu-
facturers, for example, shed 17,000 jobs. The pace of
hiring also slipped for business services.
More than half the added jobs came from industries
largely insulated from overseas turmoil: Government,
education and health services.q