The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Monday, March 12, 2012

UBS: US labor market acceleration continues

From UBS:

* US: The labor market acceleration continues. Payrolls rose 227k in Feb (cons 210k, UBSe 190k), and Jan and Dec were revised up a net 61k (to 284k and 223k, respectively). Government layoffs were more subdued (-6k), while private payrolls rose a solid 233k (cons 225k, UBSe 210k).

* US: Household income also received a boost from an 0.1% increase in average hourly earnings (cons & UBSe 0.2%), although the prior month was cut to 0.1% from 0.2%. The workweek stalled at 34.5 hours (in line with expectations).

* US: The unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3%, in line with expectations, despite a 476k increase in the labor force; and the household survey measure of employment (which may pick up small business activity sooner than the headline payrolls) continued to rise rapidly, +428k in Feb.
at 7:47 AM