Aurelia Butler

Eighteen states saw a decline in unemployment rates in March, while the rest were essentially unchanged, a BLS report published Friday shows. The biggest declines came in New Hampshire, Oregon and West Virginia, where the rate dropped by 0.3 percentage point in each case. Mississippi, one of the poorest US states, saw a decline of 0.2 percentage point to 3.5%.Among the states posting new record lows for unemployment was Ohio, where the rate fell to 3.8% from 3.9% in February.  The data point to persistent strength in the US labor market, suggesting that a recession may not be as imminent as some analysts are predicting.Unemployment was lowest in South Dakota, Nebraska and North Dakota, with rates close to 2% in each case, and below 3% in populous states such as Wisconsin and Florida.Still, some states have seen their jobless rates increase compared with a year earlier. In Washington, which has the highest concentration of information sector jobs and is vulnerable to tech-industry layoffs, unemployment rose by 0.6 percentage points over the period. The biggest year-on-year increase has come in Oregon, where the jobless rate was 4.4% last month, up from 3.5% in March 2022. In California, the nation’s largest state, the unemployment rate held at 4.4% in March and employers added 8,700 nonfarm payroll jobs.©2023 Bloomberg L.P. More

Today’s top storiesDominic Raab resigns as UK deputy prime minister over bullying claims.China is planning to build cyber weapons to hijack enemy satellites, according to leaked CIA documents. Russia admits accidentally bombing one of its own cities.For up-to-the-minute news updates, visit our live blogGood evening. With Darren on holiday, I’m here to navigate through us these Disrupted Times.The cost of living crisis has hit the British middle classes with a jump in housing costs. According to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, 1.4mn UK homeowners are set to see their monthly payments rise. This is in addition to stubbornly high inflation, stuck in double digits.London’s sky-high property costs are forcing young families out of the capital, according to analysis by the FT’s John Burn-Murdoch. London households make about 15 per cent more than the rest of the country — but subtract housing costs, and a household in the capital is no better off than the national average.The situation is hardest for younger families. For those aged 25 to 39, the prime demographic for first-time home ownership, housing costs amount to 36 per cent of net household incomes, nearly twice the cost burden for the same age group 30 years earlier. The result is that while London’s population continues to climb, people of typical housebuying and family formation age become a smaller percentage of the total. London has aged more rapidly than any other part of the UK since 2015, its median age rising three times faster than the UK average.Meanwhile, Tesla has increased the price of its premium Model S and X in the US after shares fell in the wake of fears surrounding its price-cutting policy. The electric-car maker missed profit expectations for the first three months of the year due to price reductions.Need to know: UK and Europe economyUK retail sales fell 0.9 per cent in March, below forecasts, according to the Office for National Statistics today. Bad weather was blamed for dissuading many shoppers from venturing out on to the high street. Department stores, clothing shops and garden centres did particularly poorly, according to Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics.However, consumer confidence seems to be slowly recovering in the UK, climbing to its highest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to research group GfK. Its index of consumer confidence rose by 6 points to -30 in April.This seems to reflect a cautious optimism more widely. Although investors expect UK interest rates to rise further following stronger-than-expected jobs and inflation data, the Bank of England continues to suggest it is close to the end of its monetary policy tightening cycle.Across the Channel, economists are expecting the European Central Bank to further raise interest rates in May following strong eurozone business activity driven by high demand, easing price pressures and rapid employment.In a dispute challenging Switzerland’s reputation as the world’s most politically stable and reliable financial centre, investors representing $4.5bn of wiped-out Credit Suisse bonds have filed a lawsuit against Swiss banking regulator Finma. This comes after Credit Suisse was accused of “dishonest conduct” in London’s High Court by Jersey-based investor Loreley Financing.Syrup-laced honey from China is flooding the EU’s 2.3bn euro honey market and driving down prices. Twenty EU countries, led by Slovenia, want to tighten regulation against what one EU official dubbed “honey laundering”.Need to know: Global economyUS and European stocks fell yesterday after worse than expected first-quarter earnings reports. Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.6 per cent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.8 per cent. Tesla shares sank almost 10 per cent after the electric-carmaker reported that price cuts had driven its profit margin even lower than pessimistic forecasts.In San Francisco, problems with homelessness and addiction as well as increasing office vacancies since the pandemic are leaving the city feeling hollowed out.Alphabet is ending a long-running internal rivalry between its London and Silicon Valley-based groups DeepMind and Google Brain AI by combining the two groups in an attempt to get ahead in generative AI against Microsoft and OpenAI.The generative AI market is booming and becoming increasingly competitive. Less than five months since the launch of ChatGPT, the biggest tech companies are racing to mark their territory in sections of the industry. Meanwhile, researchers are divided over how to keep control of the threats posed by recent advances in generative AI. Ultra-intelligent machines such as Open AI’s GPT-4 and Google’s Bard have the potential to raise economic productivity and enhance human creativity but researchers are cautious of what it could mean when humanity loses control of the machines we have created. Need to know: businessThe future of the CBI looks uncertain with a wave of membership cancellations and a second rape allegation at the UK employers’ body. Insurers Aviva and Phoenix, pension scheme the People’s Partnership and PwC are following trade body the British Insurance Brokers’ Association in cancelling their CBI memberships. Aviva said: “The CBI is no longer able to fulfil its core function — to be a representative voice of business in the UK.”This comes after the CBI said yesterday that it had given the police “additional information relating to a report of a serious criminal offence”.The UK banking sector is marking the fifth anniversary of open banking, a government-backed initiative under which the Competition and Markets Authority coerced banks to hand over current account transaction data to third-party providers. The CMA ruled in January that Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander have all implemented the Open Banking Roadmap.Deloitte is the latest of the Big Four accounting firms to respond to a slowdown on the consulting side of its business with plans to cut 1,200 jobs in the US amounting to 1.5 per cent of its US workforce.The Financial Conduct Authority looks set to protect leaseholders from excessive insurance costs charged by brokers and paid in large sums to landlords, promising a clampdown on brokers who overcharge.BuzzFeed News has become the latest victim of the digital media downturn, cutting its workforce by 15 per cent and resulting in 180 employees losing their jobs.Science round upAfter its first orbital launch test on Monday was called off, SpaceX’s Starship rocket took to the skies yesterday. But not for long. The near 400ft-tall rocket built by Elon Musk’s company exploded before stage separation in, what SpaceX called “a rapid unscheduled disassembly.”

Starship took off yesterday but exploded soon afterwards © Abraham Pineda-Jacome/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Stress-tracking technology intended to help people manage their wellbeing in the workplace could be manipulated by bosses looking to check on those who thrive under pressure — and those who don’t. Some good newsA groundbreaking new study published in the journal Nature might have unearthed what causes human hair to go grey. As people age, melanocyte stem cells or McSCs lose their ability to move between growth compartments in hair follicles, affecting hair colour. Could grey hair one day be a thing of the past? More

“We are close but not yet there. By now we should have had an MoU signed by official creditors giving the IMF assurances,” Musokotwane said at a media briefing.Zambia became the first African country to default on its sovereign debt during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but it has struggled to finalise restructuring talks on external debt that reached $18.6 billion at the end of last year.Sources told Reuters earlier this week that Zambia’s official creditors were getting closer to signing the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on debt relief, a key step to pave the way for more International Monetary Fund funds.China is Zambia’s largest bilateral creditor and many Western officials have blamed it for delays in the restructuring process — a position Beijing strongly denies. More

(Reuters) -Procter & Gamble Co’s customers continued to show little resistance to repeated price hikes, helping the Tide detergent maker boost its annual sales forecast and third-quarter margins. The company also beat Wall Street targets for quarterly results and sweetened the pot for investors by raising the upper end of its 2023 share buyback target to between $7.4 billion and $8 billion, sending its shares up 2% in premarket trading. The maker of Pampers diapers, Pantene shampoo and Oral-B toothpaste raised average prices across product categories by 10% during the quarter, and saw overall volumes fall just 3%.Consumer goods makers, typically the last to see demand impacted by economic slowdowns, have hiked prices repeatedly to pass on steep input costs stemming from supply-chain snags and worsened by the Ukraine crisis. P&G’s gross margin rose by 150 basis points from a year ago, with a 470-basis point boost from the increased pricing. But shrinking consumer wallets in the face of high inflation have fanned concerns of how much longer rising prices will be tolerated before triggering a switch to cheaper, private-label brands.The decline in P&G’s volumes sold is “obviously driven by pricing”, said CFO Andre Schulten on a media call.”We see consumers being a bit more careful with dosing and drawing down inventories over time.” The fabric and home-care unit, P&G’s biggest segment, saw sales volumes fall 5%, with average price rising to 13%.The company lowered its annual cost estimate related to commodity and freight expenses to about $3.5 billion from $3.7 billion, but Schulten said there is “no broad-based relief in input costs”.”Some (commodities) are down… Others are going up. Every highly energy intensive material, if you think about caustic soda or ammonium, it’s actually increasing in pricing.” The company expects fiscal 2023 organic sales growth of about 6%, compared with its previous forecast for a 4% to 5% increase.P&G maintained its annual earnings forecast of flat to a 4% rise. More

Global oil prices averaged $81.24 a barrel in the January-March quarter, down nearly 20% from a year earlier but still well above a level where oil and gas producers can drill profitably.Brent futures were trading around $81.50 a barrel on Friday, up half a percent. “The international and offshore markets continue to experience a strong resurgence of activity driven by resilient long-cycle development and capacity expansion projects,” SLB CEO Olivier Le Peuch said in a statement. He said a recent decision by OPEC+ producer countries to support commodity prices through an output cut is providing operators with increased confidence. Revenue in SLB’s international business grew by 29% year-on-year to $5.97 billion, while North American revenue was up 32% over that period to $1.7 billion. Le Peuch warned the North American land market could see activity plateau in 2023 due to lower natural gas prices and capital restraint by private E&P operators.SLB shares were flat in pre-market trading at $51.94. They are down about 2.9% year-to-date. Wall Street analysts generally viewed the results as positive, pointing to the earnings beat. “SLB continues to see positive pricing as performance differentiates, technology adoption increases, contract terms are adjusted to offset inflation, and service capacity continues to tighten in key international markets,” wrote analysts for Piper Sandler in a note on Friday. The company reported free cash flow of negative $265 million for the quarter, which analysts for investment firm Cowen said was “below consensus but not unusual” for the first quarter. The company, formerly called Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB), reported net income, excluding items, of 63 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with 60 cents expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv data. More

(Reuters) -Wall Street was set for a subdued open on Friday as investors digested a mixed bag of earnings reports, while awaiting more data for clues on the outlook for U.S. interest rates and the economy.U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday after disappointing quarterly reports from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc and AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) worsened an already downbeat mood in markets following weak economic data that fueled concerns of a U.S. recession.Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Co gained 2.4% in premarket trading after the consumer company raised its full-year sales forecast on higher pricing. HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA) Inc advanced 5.4% after the hospital operator lifted 2023 results forecast on improvement in staffing that has allowed it to conduct more surgeries.”Investors are okay with earnings so far because the lack of bad news is good news,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments. “The market is waiting to see if we can get some bullish earnings over the next few weeks from some of the big cap tech stocks.”Investors are focused on S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI)’s flash purchasing managers’ indexes (PMI) at 9:45 a.m. ET (1345 GMT) that are expected to show the momentum in U.S. business activity cooled further in April.A slate of Fed speakers this week voiced support for another 25-basis-point rate hike by the U.S. central bank when it meets next week. Traders have priced in an 82% chance of such a move, with many expecting them to hold before cutting rates by the end of 2023. Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook is set to take the stage on Friday before the central bank’s policymakers enter a blackout period until the next policy meeting.U.S. stocks indexes have been rangebound this week with investors seeking clues on how far the Fed could hike interest rates, while earnings have signaled resilience in big banks though most regional lenders reported deposit outflows in the wake of a banking crisis last month. U.S. Treasury yields slipped, extending Thursday’s declines after data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week and a measure of future economic activity plunged to the lowest level in nearly 2-1/2 years in March. At 8:38 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 20 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 24.75 points, or 0.19%.Tesla Inc edged up 0.7% after raising the U.S. prices for its Model S and X premium electric vehicles, although they are still 20% lower from the start of the year following a slew of price cuts aimed at stoking demand.Cathie Wood’s asset management firm Ark Invest picked up stake in the electric-vehicle maker following the stock’s near 10% slide on Thursday after the company’s first-quarter gross margins missed estimates.U.S.-listed shares of Chilean lithium miner SQM tumbled 5.9% after Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, said he would nationalize the country’s lithium industry, transferring control of its vast operations from industry giants to a separate state-owned company. Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Corp dropped 2.9%, while Lithium Americas (NYSE:LAC) Corp slipped 0.5%. More