A very strong set of non-farm payrolls numbers from the US overnight has reignited thoughts of a hike in rates from the Fed as early as Sept this year; and that has seen the US$ rally (the A$ lost almost a cent on the data release and now stands at …read more
The US jobs data for November has, once again, beaten expectations. Non-farm payrolls increased by 321,000. The markets had been expecting an increase of around 230,000. In addition, estimates for Sept and Oct were revised higher by a combined 44,000. A separate survey showed the headline unemployment rate unchanged at …read more
Data released overnight shows that the US labour market continued to improve in October. A total of 214,000 new jobs were added to the non-farm payrolls and, in a separate survey, the unemployment rate fell to 5.8% (from 5.9%). Although the jobs number was somewhat lower than the market had …read more
Data released overnight in the US showed GDP growth at an annualised 3.5% in the September quarter (this compares with +4.6% ann in Q2 and -2.1% ann in Q1). Over the course of the past 12 months the US economy has expanded a real 2.3%. The result was somewhat stronger …read more
As had been widely anticipated, the Fed have announced the ending of their bond-buying program (known as QE3) in the statement at the end of the 2 day FOMC meeting. While the announcement came as no surprise the general tone of the announcement from the FOMC has been seen as …read more
The release overnight of the US jobs report for September has seen the A$ fall almost a full US cent. The non-farm payrolls for Sept saw a strong increase of 248,000 (above expectations) combined with large upward revisions to the data for July and August (combined revisions added another 69,000). The …read more
Overnight we saw second quarter GDP in the US revised up to an annualised +4.2%, from an initial +4.0%. The revision came on the back of stronger investment numbers and slightly weaker inventories. The weaker inventory number could point towards a stronger Q3 result as companies are required to restock. …read more
Data released overnight shows the US jobs market continuing to perform steadily (if less spectacularly than had been expected). Non-farm payrolls grew by 209,000 in July. Payrolls for both May and June were also revised up by a total of 15,000. The monthly average over the past 6 months now …read more
Overnight the Fed have announced that their tapering of bond buying will continue, with another $10bn per month knocked off the plans. The Fed will now be buying just $25bn per month with the policy set to come to an end (as planned) in October. The announcement was no surprise …read more
Data out overnight has shown the US labour market continuing to improve. Non-farm payrolls increased by 288,000 in June (far better than had been expected). Data for April and May was also revised higher with an additional 29,000 added to the two months. With participation remaining fairly static at 62.8 …read more