Manufacturing in the New York region expanded in February at the fastest pace since June 2010, a sign factories are propelling the expansion.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Japan
Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday ahead of a U.S. jobs report that is a key gauge of how robust the world’s No. 1 economy is.
Benchmark oil was nearly unchanged at $96 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and the yen.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent to 8,829.69. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1 percent to 1,964.78 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.1 percent to 20,719.23.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,249.40. Benchmarks in India, Thailand and New Zealand fell while Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia rose.
Later Friday, the U.S. government releases its report on January job creation and the unemployment rate. In December, the country added 200,000 jobs, and the jobless rate was 8.5 percent.
Some analysts said they are not expecting a strong increase in jobs, based on a report Wednesday from private payroll agency ADP. The report said private-sector employment rose by 170,000 in January from the previous month _ fewer jobs than expected.
“The two series continue to track fairly closely and both show what everyone has rightfully fretted about for the past 18 months: there hasn’t been any trend improvement in job growth since mid-2010,” said analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore.
Traders were largely refraining from big moves ahead of the employment data in case it turns out to be worse than expected.
“For right now, for major indexes like Dow Jones, the Hang Seng and also Germany’s DAX, they are already at a relatively high level,” said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. “For major indexes which shot up to high levels, we need more information for markets to expand the uptrend.”
The results of earnings reports, meanwhile, reverberated across markets. Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. jumped 7.3 percent after the electronics maker maintained its earlier earnings projection for the business year to March 31.
But Singapore Airlines fell 2.5 percent a day after announcing that quarterly profit plunged 53 percent as passenger demand slowed while higher fuel prices sent costs up. South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries plummeted 7.2 percent after posting a 91 percent plunge in fourth-quarter net profit, Yonhap News agency said.
Elsewhere, Australian miner Lynas Corp. tumbled 9.4 percent amid opposition to its rare earths plant in Malaysia’s central Pahang state that is scheduled to begin operations later this year.
Stocks were largely unchanged on Wall Street on Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down less than 0.1 percent at 12,705.41. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.1 percent to 1,325.54. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 percent to 2,859.68.
Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 4 cents to $96.39 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $1.25 to end at $96.36 per barrel in New York on Thursday.
In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3131 from $1.3141 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 76.18 yen from 76.16 yen.
Lee Enterprises, owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, exited bankruptcy Monday, less than two months after the newspaper publisher announced it would seek the protection of the bankruptcy court to push through a debt refinancing plan.
Lee, which is based in Davenport, Iowa, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Dec. 12. Lee owns 48 daily newspapers and holds an interest in four other daily newspapers. It also owns 300 specialty publications.
On Jan. 23, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross confirmed Lee’s prepackaged reorganization plan that includes new terms with creditors, including interest rates that, when combined, jump to 9.2 percent from 5.1 percent. In an unusual move, the company didn’t shed any debt with the plan; instead, the reorganization plan only pushed back the dates when its debts mature.
Under the new terms, Lee’s first lien debt includes a term loan of $689.5 million and a $40 million revolving credit facility that mature in December 2015. A second lien debt includes a $175 million term loan that matures in April 2017.
Lee also extended its remaining debt, called the Pulitzer Notes, that has a balance of $126.4 million. That debt, which was assumed in 2005 when Lee acquired the Post-Dispatch’s parent company, Pulitzer Inc., matures in December 2015.
As part of the refinancing, some Lee creditors also will end up with a 13 percent ownership stake in the company.
A year ago, when Sydney property agent Peter Green
The cost of living in the U.S. was little changed in December for a second month as stores cut prices to boost holiday sales and fuel expenses fell, reinforcing the Federal Reserve
In the land of big-time deficits and trillion dollar budgets, Congress is spending less money on at least one thing.
Itself.
After voting last year to cut its own operating budget by 5%, House members have reduced the number of paid positions on their staffs, and are spending less on office supplies and computers.
The cuts have translated to 948 fewer salaried staff positions, a 62.5% drop in spending on computers and 30.7% less spending on office supplies, according to an analysis conducted by the Sunlight Foundation.
Staff assistant positions were the hardest hit, registering a 16.6% decline, while the number of part-time employees dropped 15.6%. Meanwhile, the number of slots for communication directors actually increased.
The House has around 12,000 staffers, and the job cuts amounted to a 7.4% overall decline in positions, according to Sunlight.
When compared to current deficits, the House spending reductions don’t add up to much in the way of savings. But for a Republican-controlled chamber, they are an important reflection of legislative priorities.
"The cuts are such a tiny fraction of the overall budget," said Lee Drutman, a data fellow at Sunlight. "And the reality is it makes it harder for them to do a decent job."
And more cuts are on the way, as funding will decrease another 6.4% for the legislative year that kicks off Tuesday.
Commentary: Debt crisis must be solved in the open
With many of the easy cuts already made, and staff salaries accounting for about half of congressional budgets, things might get tricky for lawmakers trying to keep a full roster of employees saving account pay day loan.
A report from the Congressional Management Foundation, a non-profit that helps congress improve its operations, backs that up.
"The 2011 cuts were manageable," the report said. "However, the consensus is that the cumulative two-year cut of 11.4% will require the large majority of offices to make painful cuts that will be felt by virtually all staff."
Drutman warns that any further reduction in staff levels will hurt the ability of congressional offices to independently produce sound policy recommendations and legislation.
"Capitol Hill staffers are already stretched incredibly thin," Drutman said. "And that means if you’re a staffer, you’re more dependent on outside sources."
And who are those outside sources?
For the most part, said Drutman, they’re lobbyists. And dependence on lobbyists for policy expertise is a dicey proposition.
Lobbyists can help fill policy knowledge gaps on congressional staffs, but at the same time come with deep-pocketed backers seeking a specific legislative outcome.
European leaders will this week try to rescue under-fire efforts to deliver new fiscal rules and cut Greece
The Federal Reserve should provide enough policy accommodation to give the unemployment rate, currently at 8.5 percent, a chance to drop, a top Fed official said on Friday.
Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans added he was worried that recent improvements in the U personal loans for people with bad credit.S. jobless rate could be “transitory.”