US consumer sentiment at lowest level for year

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to its lowest since the early days of the 2007-09 recession, a hopeful sign for the sluggish labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 330,000, the lowest level since January 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims have now fallen for two straight weeks, suggesting that if employers are concerned tax hikes enacted this year will affect consumer demand, this is not leading to more layoffs.

NEW YORK (Reuters)

NEW

The Canadian economy managed only meager job growth in April, following a big drop in employment the previous month, as the jobless rate remained at 7.2%. But while the 12,500 new jobs look good compared with March’s job carnage (54, 500 jobs lost), don’t get too excited, say economists. The job gains — mostly in the public administration and manufacturing sectors — are mediocre and reflect a sluggish economy.

WASHINGTON — U.S. job growth grew modestly in January and gains in the prior two months were bigger than initially reported, supporting views the economy’s sluggish recovery was on track despite a surprise contraction in output in the final three months of 2012. Employers added 157,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. There were 127,000 more jobs created in November and December than previously reported. The unemployment rate, however, edged up 0.1 percentage point to 7.9%.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer sentiment cooled again in early July to its lowest level in seven months as Americans took a dim view of their finances and job prospects, a survey released on Friday showed. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment fell to 72.0 from 73.2 in June, frustrating economists' expectations for a slight gain to 73.4. It was the lowest level since December 2011. Only 19 percent of consumers expected to be financially better off in the coming year, the lowest proportion recorded by the survey. ...

Crossposted from ITA's blog, Tradeology.Guest blog post by Nicole Y. Lamb-Hale is the Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing and Services within the International Trade Administration This week I am participating in the 11th Annual U.S.-Sub-Saharan Trade and Economic Forum, hosted this year in Washington, D.C. The event is mandated by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and is the U.S. Government’s premier high-level, bilateral event with Sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s theme is “Enhancing Africa’s Infrastructure for Trade.” The AGOA Forum brings together over 600 participants, including senior U.S. and African officials, as well as U.S. and African members of the private sector and civil society. I am honored to be co-chairing a session with Humberto Brito, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Energy, Cape Verde focused on ways to create an attractive regulatory environment to attract renewable energy investment. Sub-Saharan Africa is a continent of opportunities for U.S. businesses with overall projected growth rates of approximately six percent in 2012 – some of the highest in the world. In looking at the world’s ten fastest growing economies from 2001 – 2010, six were in Africa. This trend accelerates in 2011-2015 with seven of the ten world’s fastest growing economies being in Africa. In the World Bank’s Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World an impressive 36 out of 46 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa improved business regulations this year – a record number since 2005. Of the economies that improved the most in the ease of doing business in 2010/2011, with improvements in three or more areas of regulation measured by Doing Business, four of the twelve are Sub-Saharan African countries.