Australia’s unemployment rate remains intact, but jobs have been hit
unemployment in australia Rate hiked 3.5% In December, Reuters’ 48-year low reading of 3.4% slightly beat expectations.
This figure compares to a 3.4% unemployment rate for November.
However, the employment number fell 14,600 for December, widely missing expectations for an increase of 22,500 as well as a rise of 64,000 for November.
-Lee Ying Shan
Japan reports trade deficit for December
Japan posted a trade deficit of 1.45 trillion yen ($11.27 billion) for the month of December. official data,
Japan’s imports climbed 20.6% in December from a year earlier, slightly below Reuters’ expectation of 22.4%. Its exports grew 11.5% year-on-year compared to estimates of 10.1%.
The reading would cap a full year of trade deficits for Japan.
-Lee Ying Shan
The stock ended lower on Wednesday
All the major averages closed at the day’s low on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 613.89 points, or 1.81%. The S&P 500 lost 1.56% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.24%.
– Tanya Machel
Fed’s Mester says ‘we need to keep going’ with rate hikes
Cleveland Federal Reserve Chair Loretta Mester said Wednesday that interest rates will have to keep rising even as recent inflation readings soften.
In an interview with The Associated Press, the policymaker said the Fed would have to lift its benchmark interest rate above 5% to keep inflation down to the central bank’s 2% target. She said the market and the economy absorbed the half-point December rate hike without any problems.
“I think we need to keep going, and we’ll discuss [Jan. 31-Feb. 1] “Meeting how much to do in a particular meeting,” Meester said. Very well stabilize inflation expectations at 2% … and inflation on that downward path.”
The fed funds rate is currently targeted in a range between 4.25%-4.5%.
—Jeff Cox
Holiday sales data falls short of expectations
holiday sales numbers Came in lighter than expected for 2022According to data from the National Retail Federation.
The industry group said sales rose 5.3% year over year in November and December. The NRF projected an increase of between 6% and 8%.
The data does not include spending at automobile dealerships, gasoline stations and restaurants. Sales numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
– Jesse Pound, Melissa Repko