Good Job, Uncle Sam! Solid Employment Figures Boost US Economy
The US went through yet another tumultuous week last week. You can’t have missed it, surely? We’ve seen both happy and sad faces following the outcome of the Trump impeachment hearing, with the divisive president being cleared of all charges. But one thing that won’t have left anyone glum is the latest national employment figures. Today, we’ll mull over those, before outlining the most important trading events of the week.
Tasty January Job Figures
The US labor market got off to the strongest possible start this year, with employers adding 225,000 jobs in the first month of 2020. This hike outstripped all projections, with forecasters expecting a gain of about 164,000.
The US unemployment rate stands at 3.6%, which is slightly up from 3.5% in December, as more Americans were registered as ‘working or looking for work’. However, 3.6% is still near a quite awesome half-century low.
US Unemployment, 2019–20
Source: Trading Economics
And there’s more good news; the average hourly earnings were also up 3.1% vs. this time last year. Very nice!
This is all very good news for Mr. Trump, who will likely be beaming at the prospect of a) still being in the White House; b) still being able to run for election this year; and c) actually having the chance of being re-elected for — get this — being a quite good president, at least in terms of boosting the US economy.
It’s not all plain sailing, however. There are still some dark clouds looming on the US’ economic horizon. The shutdown of Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft production, retailers dumping workers, and, of course, the threat of a coronavirus outbreak, to name a few. All of these could have quite drastic effects on the economy.
Watch this space.
All the BIG stuff coming up this week
There’s a lot of information out there. Quite often, you’ll read one thing on one website and have it completely ruled out on another. But, don’t panic! That’s exactly what we’re here for. We’ve put together an infallible list of all of the major happenings this week.
● China kicks off our week with the YoY Consumer Price Index for January (CNY).
● Tuesday will see the release of the UK’s GDP for 2019Q4 (GBP).
● On Wednesday, we’ll get a bunch of announcements from the Royal Bank of New Zealand, including the Interest Rate decision and Rate Statement (NZD)
● We’re back in Europe on Thursday for Destatis’ Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (EUR). After we’re done there, we’ll hop stateside for an update on the US’ quarterly and annual Consumer Price Index excluding Food and Energy (USD).
● On Friday, the EU announces it’s bloc-wide YoY and QoQ Gross Domestic Product for Q4 (EUR). We’ll finish the week with the US Census Bureau’s monthly Retail Sales Control Group (USD).
P.S. talking of dates for your calendar, don’t forget that Friday is also Valentine’s Day! We’ve got your back. 😉
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The Contentworks Team
