Aurelia Butler

US jobs growth maintained robust momentum in April, despite employers grappling with a historically tight labour market, underscoring the strength of the economy.US non-farm payrolls grew 428,000 in April, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday, matching the revised 428,000 increase in March. That kept the jobless rate steady at 3.6 per cent, just shy of the level it stood at in February 2020 before the pandemic began spreading across the US for the first time.While job creation has been exceedingly strong across the US economy over the past year, and the unemployment rate has fallen much more rapidly than expected by most policymakers, the hot labour market coupled with high inflation is raising concerns for the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve.Wages have shot higher as employers have been forced to compete for talent. Average hourly earnings in April climbed another 0.3 per cent, for an annual increase of 5.5 per cent.This week, the US central bank raised its main interest rate half a percentage point for the first time since 2000 — to a target range of between 0.75 per cent and 1 per cent — in an effort to more rapidly cool the economy and stamp out high prices.“Labour demand is very strong, and while labour force participation has increased somewhat, labour supply remains subdued,” said Fed chair Jay Powell during his post-meeting press conference. “Employers are having difficulties filling job openings, and wages are rising at the fastest pace in many years.”In April, the share of Americans either employed or looking for work, as measured by the labour force participation rate, registered little progress and remained below its pre-pandemic level. It ticked 0.2 percentage points lower to 62.2 per cent.

President Joe Biden will travel to Cincinnati, Ohio on Friday to tout the strength of the recovery under his watch, particularly in the manufacturing sector in a state that is disproportionately linked to America’s industrial base.The White House has noted 473,000 of the more than 6mn jobs created since Biden took office were in the manufacturing sector, which is now approaching pre-pandemic levels of employment.But job vacancy rates are at extremely high levels, and many employers are struggling to fill positions, causing hardship for small businesses in particular and contributing to higher wages and prices.A record 4.5mn US workers quit the labour force in March, while the number of job openings hit a high of 11.5mn, government data released earlier this week showed. Both figures were the highest since the US labour department began collecting the data in December 2000. More

The figure, which was also driven by rising leisure and education prices, was higher than the 1.0% rise expected in a Reuters poll of economists, but came in below the 1.9% increase seen in the previous month.According to the National Statistics Institute, 12-month inflation was 10.5%, far above the central bank’s target rate of 2% to 4%.The data comes a day after Chile’s central bank hiked the country’s interest rate by 125 basis points to 8.25% as it tries to rein in high consumer prices.That was the latest in a series of hikes by the bank since the middle of last year to curb inflation as the Andean copper producer’s economy has bounced back strongly from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. More

The European Union’s executive on Wednesday proposed the toughest package of sanctions yet against Russia for its actions in Ukraine, but several countries’ worries about the impact of cutting off Russian oil imports stood in the way of agreement.By 1201 GMT, the rouble had lost 4.7% to trade at 73.45 versus the euro, falling sharply from its strongest point since February 2020 of 69.1250.The rouble was 3.8% weaker against the dollar at 69.52 , not too far from a more than two-year high of 65.3125 hit on Thursday.The rouble has rallied in the past few weeks thanks to mandatory conversion of foreign currency by export-focused companies. Also, there has been weak demand for dollars and euros amid waning imports and restrictions on cross-border transactions.”It looks like the rouble has found a new equilibrium point around 67, at least for the time being,” said Sberbank CIB analysts in a note. “However, we think the local currency may begin to strengthen again when we come out of the May holidays next week, with exporters gradually beginning to step up their offers of hard currency.” They said the rouble could strengthen to 60 against the greenback by the end of the month.SberCIB Investment Research’s Yuri Popov expects the rouble to trade at 75 to the dollar at year-end, improving his forecast from April of 85. Moves in the rouble are sharper than usual as market liquidity has been thinned by central bank restrictions designed to prop up financial stability after Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.Meanwhile, trading activity is subdued as the markets are open for only three days this week in the middle of Russia’s long May holidays.Brent crude oil, a global benchmark for Russia’s main export, was up 1.7% at $112.8 a barrel.Russian stock indexes were down.The dollar-denominated RTS index was 3.7% lower at 1,078.1 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index was down 1% at 2,381.6 points.Promsvyazbank analysts said they expected equity markets to drop ahead of another long holiday weekend. More

The European Commission is proposing changes to its planned embargo on Russian oil in a bid to win over reluctant states, including Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Florence, Borrell reiterated he had faith in reaching “a solution that is shared, as not all countries are in the same situation,” adding a deal had to be found quickly. The European Union’s executive proposed the oil embargo on Wednesday as part of a wider package of EU sanctions on Russia – the sixth since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what the Kremlin calls “a special military operation”. Asked about a possible embargo on gas imports, Borrell said “gas is not for tomorrow, (but) for the day after tomorrow,” indicating the EU needed to take one step at a time in its sanctions against Russia. Earlier on Friday he said the bloc needed to be “realistic” in its plans to become independent from Russian energy and that it needed to do so in an “orderly and prudent way.””Gas cannot be substituted with something else… if it’s not Russian gas it needs to be gas anyway,” he said. Europe, which sources about 40% of its gas imports from Russia, has been scrambling to diversify its energy supply mix as the conflict in Ukraine escalates.The top diplomat added there were several ways of hitting Russia’s oil exports and that action might not be just limited to a simple ban on buying the oil.”If insurance companies don’t provide the insurance for the transportation of Russian oil, it’s going to be a big problem for Russian oil exports – not only to the EU but to rest of world,” he said, without giving further details. More