| US job figures worse than expected Mass lay-offs by public sector employers sent the non-farm payrolls index down by 95,000, increasing the chances of further quantitative easing The US economy appeared to be heading back into recession after employment figures showed a bigger than expected drop in September.The dollar sank to a 15-year low against the yen and gold jumped back to near historic highs as investors sought safe havens away from the world's largest economy.Stock markets, which struggled to make gains all day, continued to wrestle with the likely effects of further quantitative easing by the US central bank.Several economists said the Federal Reserve would be under pressure at its next meeting to pump further funds into the economy, which many investors believe will keep interest rates lower for longer, while others fear rising inflation within the next couple of years.Concerns about possible trade and currency wars, fuelled by simmering rows between the US, China, Japan and the eurozone over the relative values of their currencies, also made markets nervous.Political analysts said the figures posed a problem for Barack Obama and his chances of a last-minute recovery in the US midterm congressional elections.Hiring by private-sector firms might have boosted the chances of Democrat senators in the midterm race and scuppered Republican attempts to wrest back control of the upper house. But mass lay-offs by public-sector employers sent the non-farm payrolls down by 95,000, against a revised August drop of 57,000."The overall change [in payrolls] is really bad and is probably enough to convince the Fed to engage in quantitative easing," said Mark McCormick, a currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.Jeremy Cook, UK economist at currency trader World First, said: "There's only one word for this result; ugly. The market has taken this figure and is almost insisting on a second round of monetary policy easing in November as a result. The QE2 is definitely on the slipway at the moment."An acceleration of redundancies was fuelled by cuts in the number of public employees working for state governments. While Obama has pushed for an extension of the US stimulus package to spur investment and jobs, individual states have been forced to balance their books amid a downturn in tax revenues.Tens of thousands of state workers are believed to be among the 159,000 jobs lost in the public sector in September, more than offsetting the 64,000 jobs created by private-sector employers during the month.In August the fall in payrolls was largely the result of 114,000 workers hired temporarily for the US census being laid off.Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics, said: "The budget pressures on state and local governments aren't going to ease for a while yet, so further public sector job losses should be expected".US unemployment and employment dataUS economyEconomicsBarack ObamaUnited StatesPhillip Inmanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Facebook makes copycats of us all A study of Facebook apps shows that social influence "switches on", driving mass downloading, only beyond a threshold popularity. bbc.co.uk |
Cracks widen in Netanyahu's coalition Labour leaders talk of government collapse as housing plans announced in East JerusalemIsrael's coalition government, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, appears to be in danger of fracturing over the gridlocked peace process and a controversial "loyalty law".As Israel announced the building of 238 more housing units in annexed East Jerusalem, further complicating US efforts to revive stalled peace negotiations, it emerged that Ehud Barak, the Labour leader, is predicting that the government will collapse.The party's social affairs minister, Isaac Herzog, has also been threatening to quit unless direct talks with the Palestinians are reopened by the end of this month.Although the two areas where new building has been announced were not part of the 10-month freeze on building in the West Bank, which recently expired, Israeli building in neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem – which Palestinians want to be the capital of a future state – is deeply controversial.The stability of Netanyahu's government is being threatened on two fronts. Its right opposes any extension to the building moratorium. And Labour may pull out unless there is progress in the peace talks – unlikely if the moratorium is broken.Some analysts believe that Netanyahu may be preparing to reach out to the main opposition party, Kadima, led by Tzipi Livni.The latest problems for Netanyahu came as a senior Hamas official said a German mediator trying to broker the release of an Israeli soldier held for four years in Gaza recently visited the Palestinian territory after months of deadlock. A Hamas leader said yesterday that the mediator made a "feeler visit", suggesting a renewed attempt to push forward negotiations to swap Sgt. Gilad Schalit for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.IsraelBinyamin NetanyahuMiddle EastPeter Beaumontguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Chute To Kill: Jealous Belgian Skydiver Goes Away for Murder In a real-life murder mystery that's been gripping Belgium, a jealous skydiving teacher is sentenced to 30 years for killing her love rival by cutting her parachute straps feedproxy.google.com |
Spain Makes Pension Reform a Priority Spain's newly appointed Labor Minister, Valeriano Gómez, has been tasked with overhauling the country's pension system—an institution he spent years defending as a member of the General Workers Union before joining the government last week. online.wsj.com |