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BUSINESSSaturday 5 March 2016

Jobs data keeps Wall Street winning streak alive                                                                                                                 AP: Factory activity
                                                                                                                                                                 shrinks in America,
MARLEY JAY                        The Dow Jones industrial       pects continued job and                                         mark for international oils,     China in February 
AP Markets Writer                 average rose 62.87 points,     economic growth for the                                         rose $1.65, or 4.5 percent,
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks            or 0.4 percent, to 17,006.77.  U.S.                                                            to $38.72 a barrel in Lon-      PAUL WISEMAN
wobbled to the finish Friday      The Standard & Poor’s 500      “The worries that we’ve                                         don.                            AP Economics Writer
but salvaged a four-day           index gained 6.59 points,      been hearing recently                                           Oil prices climbed about        WASHINGTON (AP) — Fac-
winning streak after the U.S.     or 0.3 percent, to 1,999.99.   about the economy slid-                                         10 percent this week and        tory activity in the United
government said employ-           The Nasdaq composite in-       ing into recession aren’t                                       have risen for three weeks      States and China — the
ers added more jobs than          dex edged up 9.60 points,      warranted,” she said. Com-                                      in a row, which hadn’t hap-     world’s top two economies
                                                                                                                                 pened since May. Brent          — slowed in February, re-
Trader Peter Mancuso works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks wobbled to the                                    crude is now higher than it     flecting and contributing
finish Friday but salvaged a four-day winning streak after the U.S. government said employers                                    was at the beginning of the     to worldwide economic
added more jobs than expected in February.                                                                                       year, although U.S. crude is    weakness.
                                                                                                                                 still lower.Energy stocks also  In the United States, the In-
                                                                                                        (AP Photo/Richard Drew)  kept rising. Drilling rig op-   stitute for Supply Manage-
                                                                                                                                 erators did the best as in-     ment said this week that its
expected in February. That        or 0.2 percent, to 4,717.02.   bined with low inflation                                        vestors were pleased they       manufacturing index rose
was another vote of con-          The Labor Department said      rates, she said that’s good                                     keep closing rigs to cut        to 49.5 last month from 48.2
fidence in the economy.           employers added 242,000        news for investors.                                             costs. Transocean climbed       in January. But anything
Mining companies made             jobs last month. Consumer      Metals and energy prices                                        $1.88, or 17.4 percent, to      below 50 signals a decline.
the biggest gains as metals       demand was solid, and the      kept climbing on the con-                                       $12.71. Ensco rose $1.43, or    Manufacturing has now
prices climbed.                   government also said em-       tinued signs of life for the                                    13.1 percent, to $12.36.        contracted in the Unit-
The jobs report showed that       ployers hired more people      economy.                                                        The market has now erased       ed States for five straight
construction, retail and          in December and January        Gold, which is trading at                                       most of its losses after a      months. Two Chinese sur-
health care companies are         than it had previously esti-   its highest price in a year,                                    painful start to the year. But  veys of manufacturing ac-
still hiring more workers. En-    mated. More people also        rose $12.50, or 1 percent,                                      there are signs investors are   tivity released separately
ergy companies also rose          looked for work.               to $1,270.70 an ounce. Sil-                                     still worried: investors keep   Tuesday showed deteriora-
with the recovering price of      This week stocks rose after    ver jumped 55 cents, or                                         buying utility and telecom      tion in February.
oil. Stocks fell back from an     reports on hiring, construc-   3.6 percent, to $15.69 an                                       stocks, which are consid-       The global economy has
afternoon peak as investors       tion spending and manu-        ounce and copper rose                                           ered safe bets when the         been lackluster, partly be-
sold telecommunications           facturing suggested that       7 cents, or 3 percent, to                                       market is troubled, and the     cause the Chinese growth
companies, which have             the U.S. economy is doing      $2.27 a pound. The price of                                     price of gold has surged        has decelerated sharply.
been the best-performing          fairly well. Kate Warne, in-   U.S. oil jumped $1.35, or 3.9                                   to its highest levels in more   Internationally, manufac-
sector of the market this         vestment strategist for Ed-    percent, to $35.92 a barrel.                                    than a year. And while          turers have endured much
year.                             ward Jones, said she ex-       Brent crude, the bench-                                         stocks have risen the last      of the fallout from sluggish
                                                                                                                                 three days, the gains were      worldwide growth.
                                                                                                                                 small and came in choppy        The ISM reported that U.S.
                                                                                                                                 trading. Warne said inves-      manufacturing employ-
                                                                                                                                 tors still feel uneasy about    ment and exports fell, but
                                                                                                                                 problems ranging from           new orders and produc-
                                                                                                                                 shaky economies outside         tion increased.
                                                                                                                                 the U.S., low oil prices, and   Some economists say the
                                                                                                                                 uncertainty over when the       February ISM index read-
                                                                                                                                 Federal Reserve will raise      ing —the highest since
                                                                                                                                 interest rates and what ef-     September — signals that
                                                                                                                                 fect that will have on the      American manufacturing
                                                                                                                                 economy. “I think we’re         might have hit bottom.
                                                                                                                                 going to continue to see        Nine of 18 manufacturing
                                                                                                                                 a lot of market volatility,”    industries reported growth
                                                                                                                                 she said. AMC Theaters,         in February.
                                                                                                                                 owned by Wanda Group            “It’s reaching for 50,” said
                                                                                                                                 of China, is buying Carmike     Bradley Holcomb, chair of
                                                                                                                                 Cinemas for $1.1 billion. The   the ISM’s manufacturing
                                                                                                                                 deal will create the biggest    survey committee. “I feel
                                                                                                                                 movie theater chain in the      the momentum.”
                                                                                                                                 world.q                         American manufacturers
                                                                                                                                                                 have been hurt by cut-
US trade gap widens to $45.7 billion in January                                                                                                                  backs in the energy in-
                                                                                                                                                                 dustry, following a sharp
PAUL WISEMAN                      cent in January to $176.5      But imports slid 1.3 percent                                    with the European Union         drop in oil prices, and by a
AP Economics Writer               billion, lowest since June     $222.1 billion in January,                                      dropped to $12.6 billion        strong dollar, which makes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The             2011. Exports of industrial    lowest since April 2011.                                        from $13.3 billion in Decem-    U.S. goods more expensive
U.S. trade deficit rose in        equipment and supplies         Lower oil prices explain                                        ber.                            in foreign markets.
January as American ex-           were down.                     part of the drop. Petroleum                                     Increasing trade deficits       “The worst is over, but
ports fell for a fourth straight  American exporters have        imports of $11.2 billion were                                   drag down U.S. gross do-        don’t expect a strong re-
month, the Commerce De-           been hurt by weakness          the lowest since November                                       mestic product — the            bound,” Ian Shepherdson,
partment said Friday.             around the world and by        2003. But January imports                                       broadest measure of eco-        chief economist at Pan-
The gap between exports           a strong dollar that makes     of autos and auto parts hit                                     nomic output. Last year,        theon Macroeconomics,
and imports climbed to            U.S. products more expen-      a record $30.6 billion.                                         the gap between exports         wrote in a report. The ISM,
$45.7 billion in January from     sive overseas.                 The deficit in the trade of                                     and imports shaved more         a trade group of purchas-
a revised $44.7 billion in De-    The high dollar should be      goods with China rose to                                        than 0.6 percentage points      ing managers, surveys
cember. Exports of goods          helping imports by making      $31.1 billion in January from                                   off annual GDP growth of        about 200 U.S. companies
and services fell 2.1 per-        them cheaper in America.       $29.7 billion. The goods gap                                    2.4 percent.q                   each month.q
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