Jerome Powell, Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve
Usa, a lively job market like never before
Although the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank has shaken the country and throughout the industrialized world and inflation is still high the US labor market is as vibrant as ever with the unemployment rate very close to a half-century low. In fact, there were as many as 311,000 jobs (excluding agricultural ones) in February, according to the latest report from the Department of Employment. The unemployment rate has grown from 3.4% in January to 3.6% in January. Last month’s very strong trend cooled off, calming the concerns of the Fed who feared that this trend would give pressure to upward inflation. The most active sectors were leisure and tourism, demonstrating that people spend mostly for hotels, restaurants, holidays and short stays. A good trend was also seen in the construction companies which grew in the workforce of as many as 24,000 new jobs, despite the fact that the increase in mortgage rates is slowing down the real estate market.
Usa, but interest rates are holding back the real estate market
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate home loan rose to 6.73% this week from 3.85% last year, according to mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Despite the big middleweight stocks, the high tech sector overall lost less than expected. 25,000 job losses. Factories lost 4,000 jobs and the transportation and warehousing industry cut 22,000 jobs. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell took care of calming the emotions of the markets, who noted that a very strong labor market, accompanied by strong consumer spending and high inflation, could force the central bank to raise rates interest higher, and faster than expected last year. “The road to 2% inflation is still very long and complex – said Powell- and if the data indicate it, we are ready to increase the pace of rate hikes”. For this, it will be necessary to see the February inflation report But the economy, many analysts say, after the pandemic no longer reflects any past trend and now more than ever navigation is visible.
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