Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

U.S. jobless claims drop to near six-month low

FILE PHOTO: People wait in line to attend TechFair LA, a technology job fair, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a six-month low last week, pointing to a further tightening in the labor market that could encourage the Federal Reserve to lay out a plan to start unwinding its massive bond portfolio.

Labor market strength was corroborated by other data on Thursday showing manufacturers in the mid-Atlantic region sharply increased hours for workers in August amid a jump in new orders and unfilled orders.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 232,000 for the week ended Aug. 12, the Labor Department said.

That was the lowest level since the week ended Feb. 25 when claims fell to 227,000, which was the best reading since March 1973. Data for the prior week was unrevised.

It was the 128th week that claims remained below 300,000, a threshold associated with a robust labor market. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller. The unemployment rate is 4.3 percent.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims dropping to 240,000 in the latest week. A Labor Department official said there were no special factors influencing the claims data and that no states had been estimated.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 500 to 240,500 last week.

Prices of U.S. Treasuries were trading lower as were U.S. stock index futures. The dollar <.DXY> was stronger against a basket of currencies.

LABOR MARKET STRENGTH Last week’s claims data covered the survey week for the August nonfarm payrolls. The four-week average of claims fell 3,500 between the July and August survey periods, suggesting another month of solid job growth.

Payrolls increased by 209,000 jobs in July. The economy has added 1.29 million jobs this year and the unemployment rate has fallen five-tenths of a percentage point.

Labor market tightness has, however, failed to generate strong wage growth, contributing to inflation consistently below the Fed’s 2 percent target.

Minutes of the U.S. central bank’s July 25-26 policy meeting showed policymakers appeared increasingly cautious about weak inflation, with some urging against further interest rate increases.

But labor market strength is probably sufficient for the Fed to outline a proposal to begin offloading its $4.2 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities at its next policy meeting in September.

Most economists expect another rate hike in December. The Fed has increased borrowing costs twice this year.

In a second report on Thursday, the Philadelphia Fed said its index of manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region slipped to 18.9 this month from 19.5 in July.

Despite the modest pullback, manufacturers reported increased demand for their products. The survey’s measure of new orders surged to 20.4 from 2.1 in July. Firms also reported that shipments continued to rise.

As a result, workers put in more hours. The average workweek index increased to 18.8 in August from 3.8 in the prior month.

A third report from the Fed showed manufacturing output fell 0.1 percent in July as the production of motor vehicles and parts tumbled 3.6 percent.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)

Strong U.S. jobs report bolsters case for further Fed tightening

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers hired more workers than expected in July and raised their wages, signs of labor market tightness that likely clears the way for the Federal Reserve to announce a plan to start shrinking its massive bond portfolio.

The Labor Department said on Friday that nonfarm payrolls increased by 209,000 jobs last month amid broad-based gains. June’s employment gain was revised up to 231,000 from the previously reported 222,000.

Average hourly earnings increased nine cents, or 0.3 percent, in July after rising 0.2 percent in June. That was the biggest rise in five months. On a year-on-year basis, wages increased 2.5 percent for the fourth straight month.

“The Fed set a low bar for balance sheet normalization to begin in September, and today’s number cleared that bar with elan,” said Michael Feroli, economist at JPMorgan in New York.

Although the economy is near full employment, wage growth has not been strong in part because many of the jobs being created are in low-wage industries. Last month, restaurants and bars added 53,100 jobs.

July’s monthly increase in earnings could, however, offer Fed policymakers some assurance that inflation will gradually rise to the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target.

Economists expect the Fed will announce a plan to start reducing its $4.2 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities at its next policy meeting in September. The Fed bought these securities to lower interest rates in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

Sluggish wage growth and the accompanying benign inflation, however, suggest the Fed will delay raising interest rates again until December. It has increased borrowing costs twice this year and its benchmark overnight interest rate is in a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent.

The dollar rose and was set for its biggest one-day gain versus a basket of currencies this year, while prices for U.S. Treasuries fell. Stocks on Wall Street edged higher. [.N]Economists had forecast payrolls increasing by 183,000 jobs and wages rising 0.3 percent in July.

Republican President Donald Trump, who inherited a strong job market from the Obama administration, cheered Friday’s employment data. “Excellent Jobs Numbers just released – and I have only just begun,” Trump said on Twitter. “Many job stifling regulations continue to fall. Movement back to USA!”

Trump has pledged to sharply boost economic growth and further strengthen the labor market by slashing taxes, cutting regulation and boosting infrastructure spending.

But after six months in office the Trump administration has failed to pass any economic legislation and has yet to articulate a plan for much of its economic agenda.

 

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FALLS

Wage growth is crucial to sustaining the U.S. economic expansion after output increased at a 2.6 percent annual rate in the second quarter, an acceleration from the January-March period’s pedestrian 1.2 percent pace.

The economy also got a boost from another report on Friday showing a sharp drop in the trade deficit in June.

The unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.3 percent in July, matching a 16-year low touched in May. It has declined five-tenths of a percentage point this year and is now at the most recent Fed median forecast for 2017.

“Stable year-on-year wage growth should decrease the perceived risk of further slowing in wages and prices,” said Andrew Hollenhorst, an economist at Citigroup in New York.

“Strong payroll gains that place downward pressure on the post-crisis low unemployment rate will keep the center of the Fed comfortable with increasing policy rates in December.”

July’s decline in the jobless rate came even as more people entered the labor force, underscoring job market strength.

The labor force participation rate, or the share of working-age Americans who are employed or at least looking for a job, rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 62.9 percent. The share of the population that is employed climbed to 60.2 percent, matching an eight-year high touched in April.

A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have given up searching and those working part time because they cannot find full-time employment, was unchanged at 8.6 percent last month. This alternative gauge of unemployment hit a 9-1/2-year low in May.

Monthly job growth this year has averaged 184,000, close to the 2016 average of 186,000. The economy needs to create 75,000 to 100,000 jobs per month just to keep up with growth in the working-age population.

Manufacturing payrolls advanced by 16,000 jobs in July, the largest gain since February. Employment in the automobile sector rose by 1,600 despite slowing sales and bloated inventories that have forced manufacturers to cut back on production.

U.S. auto sales fell 6.1 percent in July from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted rate of 16.73 million units. General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co have both said they will cut production in the second half of the year.

Construction payrolls rose 6,000 last month as hiring at homebuilding sites increased 5,100. The professional and business services sector added 49,000 workers last month.

Retail employment rose by 900 as hiring at motor vehicle and parts dealerships as well as online retailers offset a drop of 10,000 in employment at clothing stores.

Companies like major online retailer Amazon are creating jobs at warehouses and distribution centers. Amazon this week held a series of job fairs to hire about 50,000 workers. Government payrolls rose by 4,000 in July.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by James Dalgleish and Paul Simao)

 

Wall Street opens higher, Dow rises to record high

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., July 20, 2017.

By Sweta Singh and Ankur Banerjee

(Reuters) – U.S. stock indexes opened higher on Monday, with the Dow hitting a record high, as investors remained optimistic on corporate earnings in the second quarter.

Investors have been counting on earnings to support the relatively high valuations for equities, with the S&P 500 trading at about 18 times earnings estimates for the next 12 months, above its long-term average of 15 times.

Of the 289 S&P 500 companies that reported results until Friday, 73 percent of them beat analyst expectations. This is above the 71 percent average over the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters.

The S&P 500 slipped on Friday on negative reactions to earnings reports from high-profile names such as Amazon, Exxon and Starbucks and a drop in shares of tobacco companies.

“We had a choppy week last week, we had a very erratic week, so coming off a erratic week, we’re getting some early morning premarket bargain hunting,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital LLC.

“We’re not having anything coming that the markets can sink their teeth into.”

Apple Inc, a part of the Dow, is expected to report quarterly results after market close on Tuesday and its performance may hold the sway over tech stocks this week.

At 9:37 a.m. ET (1337 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 61.07 points, or 0.28 percent, at 21,891.38, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 4.68 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,476.78 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 18.28 points, or 0.29 percent, at 6,392.96.

Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with the financial index’s 0.38 percent rise leading the gainers.

On data front, contracts to buy previously owned homes rebounded in June after three straight monthly declines.

The National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, jumped 1.5 percent to a reading of 110.2.

The Federal Reserve of Dallas will release its monthly manufacturing index for July at around 10:30 a.m. ET.

Oil prices rose on Monday, putting July was on track to become the strongest month for the commodity this year.

Scripps Network was up 1.23 percent at $87.98 premarket after Discovery Communications said it would buy the media company for $14.6 billion.

Charter Communications Inc shares were up 4.3 percent at $386.13 after the U.S. cable operator said on Sunday it was not interested in buying wireless carrier Sprint Corp.

Shares of Snap Inc fell 4.1 percent to $13.10 and hit a record low, as a share lockup ended, allowing for sales by early investors and pushing it further below its March initial public offering price.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the New York Stock Exchange by 1,495 to 1,017. On the Nasdaq, 1,278 issues rose and 971 fell.

 

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee, Sweta Singh, and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

 

Dollar edges lower versus yen before Yellen testimony; sterling off lows

A U.S. five dollar note is seen in this picture illustration June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration

By Saikat Chatterjee

LONDON (Reuters) – The U.S. dollar fell against the yen and languished at 14-month lows against the euro on Wednesday ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s appearance in Congress to give testimony on monetary policy.

As investors sought to take profits after a recent dollar rally on the back of a broadly mixed session for risky assets, the greenback’s rise was also halted thanks to a softening of U.S. Treasury yields this week.

The dollar edged 0.4 percent lower against the yen to 113.43 &lt;JPY=EBS&gt; in early trades after rising more than 5 percent over the last month. It was trading at 1.14565 against the euro, its lowest level since early May. &lt;EUR=EBS&gt;

“The Yellen testimony remains the key event risk in today’s session but we remain optimistic about the dollar’s outlook and putting on a long position against sterling is the best way to execute that view,” said Adam Cole, head of FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets in London.

Yellen will give her semi-annual monetary policy testimony before Congress later on Wednesday and on Thursday, and investors will be parsing it for clues on when the Fed will start reducing its massive balance sheet.

Strategists at Brown Brothers Harriman don’t expect Yellen to break new ground in her testimony.

The Fed raised rates last month to a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent and market expectations are roughly of a 50 percent probability that interest rates will rise again before the end of the year, according to the CME’s Fed watch data.

UK PROSPECTS

While there is a 50 percent probability for the Bank of England to raise interest rates too before the end of the year, markets are expecting the central bank to strike a dovish stance after recent soft data and comments from policymakers.

In an interview for a Scottish newspaper, the Press and Journal, published on Wednesday, Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent said that while there was reason to see the bank moving towards higher rates, there were “a lot of imponderables”.

His comments pushed sterling to a two-week low against the dollar &lt;GBD=D3&gt; and to its lowest in eight months against the euro in early trading on Wednesday.

While subsequent wages data pulled sterling from the day’s lows, the outlook remained wary.

In other currencies, the Canadian dollar &lt;CAD=&gt; was slightly higher against its U.S. counterpart as investors awaited a Bank of Canada interest rate decision later on Wednesday.

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

U.S. job growth seen accelerating; unemployment rate steady

FILE PHOTO: Leaflets lie on a table at a booth at a military veterans' job fair in Carson, California October 3, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers likely stepped up hiring in June and boosted wages for workers, signs of labor market strength that could keep the Federal Reserve on course for a third interest rate increase this year.

According to a Reuters survey of economists, the Labor Department’s closely watched employment report on Friday will probably show that nonfarm payrolls increased by 179,000 jobs last month after gaining 138,000 in May.

The unemployment rate is forecast steady at a 16-year low of 4.3 percent. It has dropped five-tenths of a percentage point this year and matches the most recent Fed median forecast for 2017.

Economists say labor market buoyancy could also encourage the U.S. central bank to announce plans to start reducing its $4.2 trillion portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in September.

“June’s employment report could provide sufficient evidence to Fed officials that they are still positioned to proceed with their monetary policy normalization plans in the second half of the year,” said Sam Bullard, a senior economist at Wells Fargo securities in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate in June for the second time this year. But with inflation retreating further below the central bank’s 2 percent target in May, economists expect another rate hike only in December.

June’s anticipated employment gains would be close to the 186,000 monthly average for 2016 and reinforce views that the economy regained speed in the second quarter after a sluggish performance at the start of the year.

But the pace of job growth is expected to slow as the labor market hits full employment. There is growing anecdotal evidence of companies struggling to find qualified workers.

As a result, some companies are raising wages in an effort to attract and retain their workforces. Economists expect worker shortages to boost wage growth, which has remained stubbornly sluggish despite the tightening labor market.

EYES ON WAGES

Average hourly earnings are forecast increasing 0.3 percent in June after gaining 0.2 percent in May. That could lift the year-on-year increase in wages to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent in May.

“The days of month after month of 200,000 jobs being created are likely behind us,” said Ryan Sweet, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

“We will see trend job growth continue to moderate. That doesn’t necessarily signal that the expansion is running out of juice or that a recession is imminent, it is just a symptom of a full-employment economy.”

The economy needs to create 75,000 to 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population.

Republican President Donald Trump, who inherited a strong job market from the Obama administration, has pledged to sharply boost economic growth and further strengthen the labor market by slashing taxes and cutting regulation.

But Republicans have struggled with healthcare legislation and there are also worries that political scandals could derail the Trump administration’s economic agenda.

Job gains were likely broad in June. Manufacturing payrolls likely rebounded after factories shed 1,000 jobs in May. But employment in the automobile sector probably declined further as slowing sales and bloated inventories force manufacturers to cut back on production.

Ford Motor Co has announced plans to slash 1,400 salaried jobs in North America and Asia through voluntary early retirement and other financial incentives. Others, like General Motors are embarking on extended summer assembly plant shutdowns, which will temporarily leave workers unemployed.

Further job gains are likely in construction.

The retail sector is expected to have purged jobs for a fifth straight month as department store operators like J.C. Penney Co Inc, Macy’s Inc and Abercrombie & Fitch struggle against stiff competition from online retailers led by Amazon.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Fed’s Fischer says more to be done to prevent future crises

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer addresses The Economic Club of New York in New York, U.S. on March 23, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Board Vice Chair Stanley Fischer on Tuesday warned that while the U.S. and other countries have taken steps to make their housing finance systems stronger, more needs to be done to prevent a future crisis.

Fischer did not address the outlook for U.S. monetary policy or the economy in remarks prepared for delivery to the DNB-Riksbank Macroprudential Conference Series in Amsterdam.

Instead he focused on preventing financial instability, arguing that since the 2007-2009 financial crisis in the United States, “the core of the financial system is much stronger, the worst lending practices have been curtailed, much progress has been made in processes to reduce unnecessary foreclosures,” and a 2008 law helped clarify the status of government support for housing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But to prevent a new crisis, he said, governments ought to do more, including stress tests for banks on their resilience should house prices decline dramatically, and making it easier to avoid foreclosures, which hurt both lenders and borrowers.

“(T)here is more to be done, and much improvement to be preserved and built on, for the world as we know it cannot afford another pair of crises of the magnitude of the Great Recession and the Global Financial Crisis,” he said.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; editing by Diane Craft)

Fed’s Dudley confident U.S. inflation should rebound with wages

William C. Dudley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York speaks during a panel discussion at The Bank of England in London,

y Jonathan Spicer

PLATTSBURG, NY (Reuters) – U.S. inflation is a bit low but should rebound alongside wages as the labor market continues to improve, an influential Federal Reserve official said on Monday, reinforcing the message that a recent patch of weak data is unlikely to derail plans to keep raising interest rates.

The comments by New York Fed President William Dudley, a close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, were among the first after the U.S. central bank hiked rates last week in the face of a series of soft inflation readings.

“This is actually a pretty good place to be” with unemployment at 4.3 percent and inflation at about 1.5 percent, Dudley told the North Country Chamber of Commerce in Plattsburg, New York.

“We are pretty close to full employment,” he said. “Inflation is a little lower than what we would like, but we think that if the labor market continues to tighten, wages will gradually pick up and with that, inflation will gradually get back to 2 percent.”

Price readings have edged lower over the past few months, raising questions about the Fed’s general plan to boost rates one more time before the year-end, and another three times next year. Last week’s hike was the central bank’s third in six months.

Asked about a so-called flattening of yields in the bond market, which suggest investors are skeptical that this Fed policy-tightening cycle will last much longer, Dudley said pausing policy now could raise the risk of inflation surging and hurting the economy.

He said he did not read the market move as a negative signal for the U.S. economy, but rather one that reflects low overseas inflation and borrowing costs.

“I am very confident” that economic expansion “has quite a long ways to go,” Dudley said, adding he expected wage growth to rise to about 3 percent over the next year or two.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Tech leads Wall Street higher; jobs data falls short

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S.,June 2, 2017.REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks closed at record levels for a second consecutive session on Friday, as gains in technology and industrial stocks more than offset a lukewarm jobs report.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 138,000 in May, well short of the 185,000 expected by economists. The prior two months were revised lower by 66,000 jobs than previously reported.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent in May, following a similar gain in April, but the unemployment rate fell to a 16-year low of 4.3 percent.

Despite the disappointing data, market participants still largely anticipate the Federal Reserve to raise rates at its June 13-14 meeting, with traders expecting a 90.7-percent chance of a quarter-point hike, according to Thomson Reuters data.

“It’s certainly surprising. It doesn’t really correlate well with virtually all the other data on the labor market that we’re seeing,” said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Services Inc in Troy, Michigan.

The modest increase, however, could raise concerns about the economy’s health after gross domestic product growth slowed in the first quarter and a string of softening data this week, including reports on housing and auto sales.

The economy needs to create 75,000 to 100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Job gains are slowing as the labor market nears full employment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> rose 62.11 points, or 0.29 percent, to 21,206.29, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 9.01 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,439.07 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 58.97 points, or 0.94 percent, to 6,305.80.

For the week, the S&P rose 0.95 percent, the Dow added 0.59 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.54 percent.

Industrials <.SPLRCI>, up 0.49 percent, and technology <.SPLRCT>, up 1.04 percent, were the best performing sectors. The tech sector has been the top performer among the major S&P sectors, with a 2017 gain of 21.26 percent.

The tech sector was led by Broadcom <AVGO.O>, which rose more than 8 percent to hit an all-time high of $253.76, after the chipmaker’s quarterly results beat analysts’ expectations.

Shares of financials <.SPSY>, which benefit from higher interest rates, fell as much as 0.9 percent after the jobs data sparked some worry the Fed could become cautious after the June meeting, and closed down 0.37 percent.

Energy <.SPNY> was the worst-performing sector, down 1.18 percent. Brent oil tumbled below $50 a barrel on worries that President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon a climate pact could spark more crude drilling in the United States and worsen a global glut.

Lululemon Athletica <LULU.O> jumped 11.5 percent to $54.29 after the athletic apparel maker’s quarterly profit beat estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.34-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.07-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 28 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 82 new highs and 70 new lows.

About 6.37 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 6.65 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.

(Additional reporting by Herb Lash; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

U.S. stocks open higher after strong private jobs data

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan

By Sweta Singh

(Reuters) – U.S. stocks were higher on Thursday after better-than-expected private sector hiring showed that the labor market continues to strengthen, further boosting chances of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this month.

The ADP private sector employment report showed that 253,000 jobs were added in May, well above the 185,000 jobs estimated by economists polled by Reuters.

The report by payrolls processor ADP acts as a precursor to the much-awaited nonfarm payrolls data, due on Friday, that includes hiring in both the public and private sectors.

“I think the Fed has already made up its mind. Unless we have a real weak employment data tomorrow I think it’s a go-ahead for the Fed to raise rates in June,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said on Wednesday he sees a total of three interest rate increases for this year as his baseline scenario, but views four hikes as also being appropriate if the U.S. economy gets an unexpected boost.

Forecasts from Fed officials suggest that a median of two more hikes are planned before the end of the year.

Traders priced in an 89 percent chance of a rate hike in the upcoming Fed meeting on June 14, according to Thomson Reuters data.

At 9:52 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 21.5 points, or 0.1 percent, at 21,030.15, the S&P 500 was up 6.16 points, or 0.25 percent, at 2,417.96 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 26.51 points, or 0.43 percent, at 6,225.03.    Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the health and technology sectors leading the gainers.

The Institute for Supply Management is likely to report that its national manufacturing index slipped to 54.5 in May from 54.8 in April. The data is expected at 10:00 ET.

“We have a multitude of macro news coming out today and that will set the tone for the market’s direction … I think we are looking at another trying session,” Cardillo said.

Deere’s shares were up 1.9 percent at $124.74 after the farm and construction major said it would buy privately held German road construction company Wirtgen Group for $5.2 billion, including debt.

Goodyear Tire’s shares were up 5.7 percent at $34.03 after Morgan Stanley raised its rating to “overweight” from “underweight”.

Box Inc was up 3.9 percent at $19.40 after the cloud storage firm’s quarterly earnings edged ahead of Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,931 to 657. On the Nasdaq, 1,707 issues rose and 624 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 28 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 82 new highs and 70 new lows.

(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Anil D’Silva)

Americans without college degree report worsening finances: Fed survey

Applicants fill out forms during a job fair in Los Angeles November 20, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The overall financial situation of U.S. households continues to improve but Americans without a college degree feel they are struggling more compared to a year previously, according to a Federal Reserve survey released on Friday.

The annual survey, which was conducted in October 2016, is now in its fourth year and acts as a temperature check on the financial wellbeing of U.S. families.

Seventy percent of those surveyed said that they were either “living comfortably” or “doing okay,” an improvement from 69 percent the prior year and 62 percent in 2013.

The improving statistics in part reflect a buoyant jobs market. Since the last survey the unemployment rate has declined to 4.4 percent from 5.0 percent, and is now near what many economists would consider full employment.

U.S. stocks have risen as well as home prices, both of which can also contribute to household wealth. However, that masks deep disparities and wage growth has remained sluggish even though the economy has largely recovered from the financial crisis.

Forty percent of respondents with a high school degree or less said they were struggling financially, one percentage point more than in 2015, at a time when those with more education felt their situation had improved. Seventeen percent of those with a college education described themselves the same way.

There were also differences based on race and ethnicity. Fifty-one percent of white adults said they felt better off than their parents compared to 60 percent of black adults and 56 percent of Hispanic respondents.

Former manufacturing towns helped propel President Donald Trump to the White House last November and there have been growing concerns over the lack of well-paying jobs for those without a college degree.

“The survey findings remind us that many American households are struggling financially, including fully 40 percent of those with a high school diploma or less,” Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard said in a statement.

Elsewhere, the survey showed that improved incomes did not necessarily mean large savings or job stability.

Forty-four percent of respondents said they would struggle to meet emergency expenses of $400, a drop of 2 percentage points from 2015, while 17 percent of workers, and 24 percent with a high-school education of less, said their work schedule was changed by their employer from week to week.

Within that, two-thirds received their schedule six days or less in advance and 37 percent had either on-call scheduling or received notice one day or less in advance, the Fed said.

The survey tallied the responses of 6,643 adults aged 18 and over.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Andrea Ricci)