20100310 0936 Global Economic News.

Most US employers are still cautious when it comes to hiring, planning neither to add nor cut jobs from their payrolls this spring, according to a staffing firm survey. About 73% of employers surveyed by Manpower Inc. expect no change in their hiring plans from March to June this year.

• But there were also signs of improvement in the hiring outlook. Only about 8% of employers said they plan to make cuts, down from 12% in the previous quarter, and 14% a year ago. About 16% of employers said they expect to add to their payrolls, up from 12% last quarter.
• Of the 13 industry sectors Manpower surveyed, employers in leisure and hospitality, business services and mining reported the strongest hiring outlooks for the quarter. (CNN Money)

Restrictive credit and other headwinds are "abating" this year, but for those 40% of the unemployed without a job six months or more, even an improvement in the unemployment rate may not help as much as hoped, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans said. Evans said the "unprecedented" duration of unemployment may have "longlasting effects on consumer confidence and demand" even as the economy improves. (Xinhua)

US President Barack Obama gave a positive response to the European efforts to combat some aspects of market speculation that could destabilise markets and the euro, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said following a meeting at the White House. "The European Union is ... stepping up to its responsibilities to deal with this issue, and I think that is a very important signal around the world because what is saying is that Europe is united on this cause, there is solidarity, and it will not allow speculators to play around with the stability of the eurozone and the currency," Papandreou said. (Xinhua)

European Central Bank (ECB) council member Axel Weber said the bank could accept government bonds with lower credit ratings as collateral against loans if a higher risk premium were applied. “It’s not necessarily the only solution to have a level of rating at which we cut off the access to the central bank. We could take higher haircuts for lower ratings; we could have a more continuous collateral framework,” Weber said. (Bloomberg)

European Commission President Jose Barroso said the bloc will consider banning “purely speculative” credit-default swaps (CDS) as German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a crackdown on derivatives trading to prevent a rerun of the Greek financial crisis. “We’re of the opinion that a quick implementation of actions in the area of CDS has to happen,” Merkel said. (Bloomberg)

Japan’s broadest indicator of economic health rose for a 10th month, extending the longest streak since 1997 as exports fueled the recovery. The coincident index, a composite of 11 indicators including factory production and retail sales, climbed from 97.4 to 99.9 in January. Economists had forecast for an advance to 99.6. Leading index rose from 94.7 to 97.1 in January, which was above the market consensus for an increase to 96.6. (Bloomberg)

China’s yuan is facing increased pressure to appreciate as a widening interest-rate differential spurs inflows of funds through "underground money shops," said Yi Gang, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The yuan’s exchange rate will be kept stable at a “reasonable and balanced level,” he reiterated. (Bloomberg)

China would step up work to monitor non-banking financing, said Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). He added that more focus would be put on businesses in connection with trust companies and the real estate sector to prevent banks from using non-banking financing to circumvent policies. The 2010 government loan target is RMB7.5tr (US$1.1tr). But in January alone, banks extended RMB1.4tr in new loans or18.5% of the full-year target. (Xinhua)

Deputy Governor of China Central Bank Yi Gang said that gold stock may be a good asset but is no longer the major component of China's foreign exchange reserve. As the world gold market was limited, large purchase of the precious metal by China would further push up the international price, he said. China would consider "cautiously" based on market conditions on any suggestion to increase its gold reserve. (BT)

The Monetary Authority of Hong Kong announced that additional exchange fund bills of HK$18.0bn (US$2.3bn) will be offered in tenders on 16, 23 and 30 Mar to meet banks' increased demand for the paper given the abundance of liquidity in the banking system. Interbank liquidity is expected to remain abundant after the issuance of additional bills, which is not expected to have a significant impact on liquidity conditions and interest rates. (Xinhua)

Singapore’s petrol dealers raised their pump prices. Shell, Caltex and ExxonMobil increased prices by 4 cents a litre. With the increase, 98 grade petrol costs S$1.940 a litre, 95 grade fuel costs S$1.857 and diesel costs S$1.313 a litre. (Channel News Asia)