Oil prices were near flat on Friday, as optimism about a possible rise in energy demand in China faded and the market weighed concerns about steep inflation.
Asian shares tracked Wall Street lower on Friday while Treasury yields scaled 14-year highs as the prospect of aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and recession risks soured investor sentiment.
The U.S. government has significantly boosted purchases of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles but faces supply chain hurdles, the White House said, as it looks to meet President Joe Biden's aggressive zero-emission purchasing goals.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell unexpectedly last week, indicating the labor market remains tight even as demand for labor is cooling amid higher interest rates.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 214,000 for the week ended Oct. 15, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 2,000 fewer applications filed than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 230,000 applications for the latest week.
The labor market has been largely resilient, though some cracks are emerging as the Federal Reserve ramps up its monetary policy tightening campaign. The U.S. central bank has hiked its policy rate from near-zero at the beginning of this year to the current range of 3.00% to 3.25%, and officials have signaled more large increases were on the way this year with inflation showing little sign yet of a substantial retreat.
The government reported earlier this month that job openings dropped by 1.1 million, the largest decline since April 2020, to 10.1 million on the last day of August. But economists do not expect widespread layoffs, saying companies were wary of releasing their workers after difficulties hiring in the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic forced some people out of the workforce, partly due to prolonged illness caused by the virus.
The claims report showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring, increased 21,000 to 1.385 million in the week ending Oct. 8.
Source : Investing.com
Japan’s core CPI inflation hit an eight-year high in September, data showed on Friday, as the world’s third largest economy continued to grapple with increased raw material prices and a deep depreciation in the yen.
U.S. economic activity expanded modestly in recent weeks, although it was flat in some regions and declined in a couple of others, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a report that showed firms growing more pessimistic about the outlook.