U.S. Added 196,000 Jobs in March as Hiring Recovers Hiring in the U.S. recovered in March with the economy adding 196,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate remained at a historically low level of 3.8%, underscoring that the labor market remains a source of strength for the economy.
Revised figures show employers added 312,000 jobs in January and 33,000 jobs in February, a net upward revision of 14,000. (…) Through the first three months of the year, employers added an average of 180,000 jobs to payrolls each month. That was a slowdown from the robust 223,000 jobs added each month, on average, last year, and roughly in line with the 179,000 averaged in 2017.
From Bloomberg:
Average hourly earnings rose 0.1 percent from the prior month, missing estimates, following a 0.4 percent gain. Average hourly wages for private-sector workers grew 3.2% from a year earlier. A longer workweek may also have had an impact on wages: The average for all private employees increased to 34.5 hours from 34.4 hours.
Trump Says U.S.-China Trade Deal Close, but No Summit Plans Yet President says ‘this is an epic deal, historic—if it happens,’ but Trade Representative Lighthizer says major issues remain
The U.S. and China are aiming to reach a trade deal in the next four weeks, President Trump said, though he failed to announce a much-anticipated summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. (…) U.S. negotiators have told industry officials that even after reaching a preliminary deal, they will need an additional two weeks beyond that to review the fine print. (…)
China Hails ‘New Consensus’ on Trade as Trump Talks Up Unfinished Deal
THE “ART OF THE DEAL” LIVE:
Freeland says Canada won’t reopen USMCA trade talks to address Democrat demands
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says Canada will not reopen trade talks to satisfy the demands of congressional Democrats, putting further pressure on the ratification process of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is throwing another spanner in the works: He is threatening to levy tariffs on Mexican-made cars – despite having explicitly granted Mexico protection from U.S. auto tariffs in a deal last year – suggesting he does not care if such an action causes the USMCA to fail. (…)
In side letters to USMCA last year, the United States agreed to exempt all Mexican and Canadian-made autos from any future Section 232 tariffs. Unlike the main text of the deal, the side letters came into effect immediately. Mr. Trump did not explain on Thursday how he would get around this. (…)
Ms. Freeland also lobbied U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday to lift steel and aluminum tariffs. Mr. Trump imposed the tariffs on Canada and Mexico last year to put pressure on them to reach the new trade deal. But even after USMCA negotiations ended, Mr. Trump refused to lift the levies, which were imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
Ms. Freeland warned on Thursday that Canada might refuse to ratify USMCA if the tariffs are not lifted.
“The deal is done. No more leverage is needed,” she said. “Many Canadians have a really hard time understanding how we could take the final steps on [USMCA] while these tariffs remain in place.” (…)
RECESSION WATCH
STR: US hotel results for week ending 30 March
The U.S. hotel industry reported positive year-over-year results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 24-30 March 2019, according to data from STR.
In comparison with the week of 25-31 March 2018, the industry recorded the following:
- Occupancy: +4.2% to 69.5%
- Average daily rate (ADR): +0.9% to US$131.77
- Revenue per available room (RevPAR): +5.1% to US$91.53
STR analysts note that performance growth was strong against the comparison with Easter weekend in 2018, when there was significantly less group business around Good Friday. (…)
CalculatedRisk has the chart:
1 thought on “THE DAILY EDGE: 5 APRIL 2019”
Always love Alhambra with it’s take on the booming economy and employment explsion — alays good to maintain as much balance as possible:
Something has clearly changed. The greatest boom in forever which produced an epic LABOR SHORTAGE!!! was undone by 241 bps federal funds? Nope. Fragile, not boom. And now this fragile system is being hit by numerous global growth headwinds, some of which may already have already shown up in the domestic labor market.
https://www.alhambrapartners.com/2019/04/05/payrolls-fragile-friday/
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