Thursday, December 30, 2010

Reassuring set of indicators for the U.S. economy

The unemployment claims fell in the week before Christmas to their lowest level in nearly two and a half years. On indicators published Thursday, December 30, the U.S. economy ended the year in better shape than expected, boosting optimism among analysts for 2011 despite persistent obstacles to stronger growth.

According to the department of labor, unemployment claims fell in the week before Christmas to their lowest level in nearly two and a half years, falling 8% in one week. The housing market also appears on the mend. For the National Association of Realtors, the promise of increased sales in November and the increase in this indicator "advanced" in four of five months portend an increase of 8% of sales in the former in 2011.

Some economists see it as more than encouraging signs, others point out that a number of weaknesses persist for a year, including the fragility of household finances, the dependence of the economy vis-à- vis the state and a very loose monetary policy, the exporters' ability to generate attractive margins to benefit without employment, or uncertainty in financial markets.

"Much of the improvement until here was done with lower redundancy, companies remain hesitant in their hiring, "says Andrew Gledhill and from Moody's. CEOs of large U.S. companies are indeed very cautious when it comes to investing in the U.S., while boasting to their shareholders on their growth ambitions in emerging markets.

The IMF's chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, has also hinted on Thursday in an interview published in the newspaper's internal FMIqu "a continuation of the expansionist budget, or a return of U.S. consumers to their old habits just to save "can sustain growth for a time, but will have a corollary to recreate the conditions of emergence of the current crisis.

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