Pennsylvania jobless rate drops to 5.2 pct, still above US

The Labor Department said the US economy added 235,000 new jobs in February and the unemployment rate fell, beating expectations for 190,000 jobs. Utilities shed 1,000 jobs while government added 8,000.

“The fact that hundreds of thousands more people found new jobs last month is a good sign that our economy is moving in the right direction”, he said. By late morning, though, stock indexes were up only slightly. That’s up from two hikes that respondents predicted in a survey in February and now matches the median number of increases that Fed policy makers forecast in December. It’s very unlikely that President Trump will pick her for another term, especially if the three rate hikes expected this year harm the economy.

The Fed’s benchmark rate, after modest increases in December 2015 and December 2016, now stands at a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent, still quite low by historical standards.

The dramatic shift in expectations for a March hike came even before Friday’s strong jobs figures.

“The underlying economy continues to gain steam”, BMO senior economist Benjamin Reitzes said in a note to clients. “Overall, consumers are in great shape to support an accelerated pace of economic growth”. On Friday, Labor reported that jobs in construction were up by 58,000, likely due to mild weather in February. Unseasonably warm weather likely inflated that figure, economists said. Trump has promised to increase manufacturing jobs by getting better trade deals for the United States. Energy companies have increased drilling in response to higher oil prices, reversing almost two years of job losses.

It may speed up if the economy accelerates because of possible tax cuts, looser regulations and infrastructure spending from President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, they said. Intel’s shares were marginally lower, while shares other USA chipmakers rose slightly. Growth is picking up or stabilizing in most European countries as well as in China and Japan.

The U-3 rate has in the past few months returned to the prerecession levels that economists consider full employment.

In February, average hourly wages were up to $26.09.

Last week, major USA indexes lost a little ground with the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) droppoing 0.4%, the Nasdaq (NYSEARCA:QQQ) down 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) off 0.5%.

In corporate news, US-listed shares of HSBC Holdings could be active as it has hired ex-Prudential boss Mark Tucker to replace Douglas Flint as chairman after 22 years at the world’s fourth largest bank. Average weekly wages rose to $897.50. Businesses have stepped up their purchases of industrial equipment, steel and other metals, and computers. Also, CPI in January rose at its fastest rate in five years.