https://sputnikglobe.com/20230404/us-job-openings-down-most-in-nearly-2-years-sending-mixed-signals-to-markets-1109130030.html
US Job Openings Down Most in Nearly 2 Years, Sending Mixed Signals to Markets
US Job Openings Down Most in Nearly 2 Years, Sending Mixed Signals to Markets
Sputnik International
US job openings fell last month to the lowest level in almost two years.
2023-04-04T21:05+0000
2023-04-04T21:05+0000
2023-04-04T21:05+0000
economy
us economy
job market
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Job openings slipped to 9.9 million in February, growing at their slowest pace since May 2021, the Labor Department said ahead of the more important March non-farm payrolls report due on Friday. Stocks on Wall Street slid as investors worried about the potential for a recession amid the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike campaign to curb inflation. Aside from the February job openings data, US factory orders fell for a second straight month in March, with manufacturing activity weakening as well. The Fed has added 475 basis points to the interest rate over the past 13 months, bringing it to a peak of 5%. Until the job openings data emerged on Tuesday, there had been bets that the Fed would resort to one more rate hike at least in May to further cool headline inflation that expanded at 6% per year in January versus the central bank’s target of 2%. That rate hike expectation was reinforced by a 5% jump in global crude prices on Monday, following a surprise output cut by oil producers in the OPEC+ alliance. Oil prices are one of the major drivers of headline inflation. As of Tuesday, money markets traders followed by Investing.com seemed to be betting that the Fed may be done with its monetary tightening cycle. The latest reading of Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool showed only a 46% probability of the central bank raising another quarter point in rates in May. Bets for a stay were at 54%.
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US Job Openings Down Most in Nearly 2 Years, Sending Mixed Signals to Markets
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US job openings fell last month to the lowest level in almost two years, worrying economists yet providing a frisson of relief to inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve who needed to see employment and wage growth cool in order to tackle the worst price increases in four decades.
Job openings slipped to 9.9 million in February, growing at their slowest pace since May 2021, the Labor Department said ahead of the more important March non-farm payrolls report due on Friday.
"How good is the data?" economist Greg Michalowski asked in a post on the ForexLive forum. "The job openings did fall. Hires were lower as were separations [even as they] remain well above the levels pre-pandemic."
Stocks on Wall Street slid as investors worried about the potential for a recession amid the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike campaign to curb inflation.
Aside from the February job openings data, US factory orders fell for a second straight month in March, with manufacturing activity weakening as well.
The Fed has added 475 basis points to the interest rate over the past 13 months, bringing it to a peak of 5%.
Until the job openings data emerged on Tuesday, there had been bets that the Fed would resort to one more rate hike at least in May to further cool headline inflation that expanded at 6% per year in January versus the central bank’s target of 2%.
That rate hike expectation was reinforced by a 5% jump in global crude prices on Monday, following a surprise output cut by oil producers in the OPEC+ alliance. Oil prices are one of the major drivers of headline inflation.
As of Tuesday, money markets traders followed by Investing.com seemed to be betting that the Fed may be done with its monetary tightening cycle.
The latest reading of Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool showed only a 46% probability of the central bank raising another quarter point in rates in May. Bets for a stay were at 54%.
