The United States created 236 thousand jobs in March, a confirmation of the solidity of the American market despite the series of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. However, this is a slowdown compared to the 326,000 jobs created in February (data revised from the 311,000 in the first estimate). The unemployment rate fell from 3.6 to 3.5 percent while wages increased by 0.3 percent month on month.
Sitting in reduced ranks for the Asian stock exchanges, with the lists of Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore closed on Good Friday, like those of Europe and Wall Street.
Closure on the rise for the main Asian stock exchanges. Tokyo closed the session slightly up with the Nikkei index up 0.17% to 27,518.31 points. The Chinese stock markets were more tonic with the Shanghai market closing at +0.45% and Shenzhen at +0.93%. The Shanghai Composite index rises to 3,327.65 points while the Shenzhen one reaches 2,158.41 points The Hong Kong stock exchanges are closed today for holidays.
The fragility of the economic outlook – the IMF’s five-year growth forecasts are the lowest in the last thirty years – and the uncertainties associated with the crisis in the banking system have prompted investors to divert liquidity to the money market: US funds have reached record $5.25 trillion, after another $49.1 billion inflow this week
