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[c=#003BB2][b][u]Unshackled from Big Government regulations, Trumps Economy is already improving[/u][/b][/c]
[center][big]U.S. Economy Poised for Spring Rebound as Jobless Rate Falls
Unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in a decade at 4.4%[/big][/center]
By Eric Morath
Updated May 5, 2017 8:39 p.m. ET
[b]Hiring increased in April, and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in a decade, signs the U.S. economy is rebounding after a lackluster winter.[/b]
The unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percentage point to 4.4% in April, matching the low point reached in the last economic expansion in May 2007, not long before a brewing housing bust sent the economy and financial system into a decadelong crisis and recovery.
The pickup in hiring last month was broad-based, with particularly strong gains in business services and health care.
The falling unemployment rate suggests wage pressures could start to build as businesses compete for scarcer workers, though so far wage increases have been modest. It also means the Federal Reserve is likely to raise short-term interest rates for the second time this year at its next policy meeting in June, and then likely again in September, before beginning to wind down a $4.5 trillion securities portfolio late in the year.
The Fed’s objective is to gently pull back the stimulus it pumped into the economy during and after the crisis now that it appears to be on a more even footing. Still, the Fed sees the economy stuck on a growth path of about 2% this year, meaning that officials don’t expect to push short-term rates as high as they have tended to go in the past when unemployment was this low.
The Labor Department reported that businesses added 211,000 jobs in April, after adding just 79,000 jobs the month before. The pickup in hiring underpinned projections that economic growth is set for an upturn. Output grew at an annual rate of just 0.7% in the first quarter. After seeing the latest numbers, economists at forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers increased their projection for second-quarter growth to 4%.
U.S. stocks rose modestly after Friday’s jobs report and some positive corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 55.47 points, or 0.26%, to 21006.94. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both rose 0.4% to record closes. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note settled at 2.352%, compared with 2.354% on Thursday.
“This is an unambiguously strong economic report and suggests that consumers will have the wherewithal to increase spending in the second quarter,” said David Berson, economist at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
The report was greeted as a win by the Trump administration, even though President Donald Trump was a frequent critic of jobs data when he was campaigning for office in 2016. “Steady and sustained increase in job creation equals new paychecks for American workers and income for American families,” Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said Friday.
Mr. Trump tweeted, “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!”
[center][big]U.S. Economy Poised for Spring Rebound as Jobless Rate Falls
Unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in a decade at 4.4%[/big][/center]
By Eric Morath
Updated May 5, 2017 8:39 p.m. ET
[b]Hiring increased in April, and the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in a decade, signs the U.S. economy is rebounding after a lackluster winter.[/b]
The unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percentage point to 4.4% in April, matching the low point reached in the last economic expansion in May 2007, not long before a brewing housing bust sent the economy and financial system into a decadelong crisis and recovery.
The pickup in hiring last month was broad-based, with particularly strong gains in business services and health care.
The falling unemployment rate suggests wage pressures could start to build as businesses compete for scarcer workers, though so far wage increases have been modest. It also means the Federal Reserve is likely to raise short-term interest rates for the second time this year at its next policy meeting in June, and then likely again in September, before beginning to wind down a $4.5 trillion securities portfolio late in the year.
The Fed’s objective is to gently pull back the stimulus it pumped into the economy during and after the crisis now that it appears to be on a more even footing. Still, the Fed sees the economy stuck on a growth path of about 2% this year, meaning that officials don’t expect to push short-term rates as high as they have tended to go in the past when unemployment was this low.
The Labor Department reported that businesses added 211,000 jobs in April, after adding just 79,000 jobs the month before. The pickup in hiring underpinned projections that economic growth is set for an upturn. Output grew at an annual rate of just 0.7% in the first quarter. After seeing the latest numbers, economists at forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers increased their projection for second-quarter growth to 4%.
U.S. stocks rose modestly after Friday’s jobs report and some positive corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 55.47 points, or 0.26%, to 21006.94. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both rose 0.4% to record closes. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note settled at 2.352%, compared with 2.354% on Thursday.
“This is an unambiguously strong economic report and suggests that consumers will have the wherewithal to increase spending in the second quarter,” said David Berson, economist at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
The report was greeted as a win by the Trump administration, even though President Donald Trump was a frequent critic of jobs data when he was campaigning for office in 2016. “Steady and sustained increase in job creation equals new paychecks for American workers and income for American families,” Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said Friday.
Mr. Trump tweeted, “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!”
