Asian Stocks Head for Month Low on Signs of Slower Growth (Bloomberg)
Asian stocks fell, with the regional benchmark index headed for the lowest close in a month, as economic reports from New Zealand to South Korea, Japan and China stoked concern that the region’s economy is slowing. Machinery maker Komatsu Ltd. (6301), which generates at least 10 percent of its sales out of China, fell 1.8 percent in Tokyo after a gauge of China’s manufacturing unexpectedly contracted. Sharp Corp. dropped 7.1 percent in Tokyo after the Nikkei newspaper reported the Japanese television maker cut the price of a stake it’s selling to Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company fell 0.4 percent in Sydney. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid 0.4 percent to 117.33 as of 10:22 a.m in Tokyo. It’s poised for the lowest close since Aug. 3. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said on Aug. 31 that further monetary easing is an option if progress remains slow on alleviating unemployment in the world’s largest economy.
“This gradual slowdown continues to play out, and again we are not expecting any change to the current Chinese policy in terms of what’s going on with the Chinese economy,” said Donald Williams, chief investment officer at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. that manages about $1 billion. “It’s going to be difficult for the market to keep rallying on the promise of QE and other measures without some improvement in the data,” he said, referring to Fed’s asset purchases, known as quantitative easing.
Japanese Stocks Decline on Capital Spending, China PMI (Bloomberg)
Japanese stocks fell for a third day after the nation’s capital spending rose less than expected and China’s manufacturing contracted for the first time in nine months, overweighing stimulus optimism after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled further bond purchases. Komatsu Ltd. (6301), a manufacturer of construction machinery that gets 14 percent of its sales from China, fell 1.8 percent. Sharp Corp. sank 6.1 percent after the Nikkei newspaper reported the television maker offered to cut the price of shares it’s selling to Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group. Uniden Corp. (6815), a communications-equipment maker that gets about 60 percent of its revenue in North America, climbed 1.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average (NKY) fell 0.4 percent to 8,806.72 as of 9:46 a.m. in Tokyo, with volume almost 10 percent above the 30-day average. The broader Topix (TPX) Index slid 0.4 percent to 729.04 after rising as much as 0.2 percent earlier. About four shares dropped for every three that gained.
Bernanke’s remarks on Aug. 31 fueled “confidence the Fed will take action if macroeconomic data such as employment figures deteriorate,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, assistant manager of investment strategy at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. “China’s manufacturing is deteriorating day by day as inventories of steel and chemicals climb amid stalled demand.” The Topix was 16 percent below this year’s peak on March 27 on concern expansion in economies from China to the U.S. is slowing and Europe’s debt crisis deepening. Stocks on Topix were valued at 0.9 times book value, compared with 2.2 for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPXL1) and 1.5 for the Europe Stoxx 600 Index. A number less than one means companies can be bought for less than the value of their assets.
U.S. Stocks Fall for 2nd Week as Economy Overshadows Fed (Bloomberg)
U.S. stocks fell for the second straight week as evidence of a slowing global economic recovery overshadowed speculation that the Federal Reserve may introduce new stimulus measures. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rallied on the final day after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said more bond purchases are an option to lower the jobless rate. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) led declines among the biggest U.S. corporations with a 4 percent drop. Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) fell 6.7 percent after losing its place in the S&P 500. Hudson City Bancorp jumped 12 percent after M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) agreed to acquire the company. The benchmark gauge for American equities erased 0.3 percent to 1,406.58 after slipping 0.5 percent the previous week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) lost 67.13 points, or 0.5 percent, to 13,090.84 in the latest week.
“People began questioning whether the market has gotten a little ahead of itself,” John De Clue, the Minneapolis-based global investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, which oversees $104 billion, said in a telephone interview. “Europe continues to weaken. In the U.S., we got excited about gross domestic product being revised to 1.7 percent but, boy, that’s still a low number.” Equities slid earlier in the week as data showed economic confidence in the euro area and retail sales in Japan fell more than estimated. The U.S. economy climbed at a 1.7 percent annual rate from April through June, up from an initial estimate of 1.5 percent. Separate data showed more Americans than forecast filed for unemployment benefits, a sign that progress in the labor market is faltering.
U.S. Stocks Confound Bears Seeing Summer Drop (Bloomberg)
The August rally in stocks confounded bears who predicted the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index would repeat last year’s summer slump. As the CHART OF THE DAY illustrates, the S&P 500 tracked its 2011 performance in the first seven months of the year. The relationship broke down at the end of July as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro and speculation grew that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will herald further bond purchases at his speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, today. Albert Edwards, a London-based strategist at Societe Generale SA, used a version of this chart in a July 25 report that asked “is the S&P replaying 2011?” and said the U.S. economy looks to have returned to recession. The same day, Bob Janjuah, global head of tactical asset allocation at Nomura Holdings Inc., predicted a “major risk-off phase” in the coming four months with global stocks falling by as much as 20 percent to 25 percent.
“If it hadn’t been for Draghi’s ‘We will do everything’ remark, the S&P 500 would’ve followed the 2011 script,” said Manish Singh, the London-based head of investment at Crossbridge Capital, which has more than $2 billion under management. “The ECB has played the main role in making this year different.” The S&P 500 sank 5.7 percent in August 2011, and a further 7.2 percent the following month, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The benchmark gauge for U.S. equities advanced 2.3 percent this month though the Aug. 29 close. “We expected returns to be quite decent in August and still do going forward,” said Daniel McCormack, a strategist at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in London. “If you look at the background coming into the month, valuations were extreme and when that is the case you don’t need much in the way of good news to get markets moving.”
U.K. Stocks Are Little Changed on Bernanke Speech (Bloomberg)
U.K. stocks were little changed, following a three-day slide for the benchmark FTSE 100 Index, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he does not rule out further bond buying by the central bank. Xstrata Plc (XTA) and Glencore International Plc (GLEN) contributed the most to a rally by a gauge of U.K. mining stocks. Lavendon Group Plc (LVD) surged 5.8 percent after the maker of aerial work platforms doubled its dividend. Redrow Plc (RDW) gained 2.7 percent after a group led by its chairman made a takeover approach. The FTSE 100 Index declined 0.1 percent to 5,711.48 at the close in London, after earlier falling as much as 0.2 percent and rallying as much as 0.8 percent. The equity benchmark dropped 1.1 percent this week, paring its gain in August to 1.4 percent. The broader FTSE All-Share Index was little changed today, while Ireland’s ISEQ Index advanced 1 percent.
“Bernanke repeated what was expected: the Fed remains committed to the economy and -- if it needs support -- they will provide the necessary accommodation,” said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin Securities Ltd. in London. “Markets will have to wait until the next FOMC meeting to see how the cards fall,” he said, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next month. Bernanke said the unemployment rate in the world’s largest economy has seen no improvement since January. He leads an FOMC meeting on Sept. 12-13 to decide whether to further stimulate the economy in an attempt to encourage hiring.
Dollar Falls 3rd Day Versus Yen on Fed Stimulus Prospects (Bloomberg)
The dollar slid for a third day against the yen before U.S. data this week forecast to show manufacturing activity and hiring remained weak, adding to the case for further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve. The Dollar Index traded near a three-month low after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said at an annual forum in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that joblessness was a “grave concern” and that further bond purchases under quantitative easing shouldn’t be ruled out. Labor Department data on Sept. 7 may show the U.S. added fewer jobs in August. Australia’s dollar slid while the yen climbed amid signs of slowing growth in China. “Weak U.S. data will now be seen as raising the chance of QE, which is U.S. dollar negative,” said Mike Jones, a currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand in Wellington, referring to asset purchases known as quantitative easing. “Non-farm payrolls is certainly the most important event for this week.”
The dollar slid 0.2 percent to 78.23 yen as of 10:12 a.m. in Tokyo from the close on Aug. 31, when it touched 78.19, the lowest since Aug. 13. The Dollar Index (DXY), which Intercontinental Exchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six major U.S. trade partners, was at 81.264 from the 81.208 close last week, when it reached 80.964, the lowest level since May 22. U.S. markets are closed today for a holiday. The Australian dollar dropped 0.5 percent to $1.0266 and lost 0.7 percent to 80.33 yen. Japan’s currency gained against all its 16 major peers, rising 0.2 percent to 98.34 per euro.
Hiring Probably Limited by Cooling Demand: U.S. Economy Preview (Bloomberg)
Payrolls probably grew at a slower pace in August and unemployment exceeded 8 percent for a 43rd month, highlighting why Ben S. Bernanke said the lack of jobs is a “grave concern” for U.S. policy makers, economists said before a report this week. The employment tally of 125,000 would follow a 163,000 gain in July, according to the median forecast of 71 economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Labor Department figures Sept. 7. The jobless rate likely held at 8.3 percent. A separate report may show manufacturing teetered between growing and shrinking. “Payroll growth is pretty lackluster,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. in New York. “It’s going to be hard to bring down the unemployment rate quickly. Demand is soggy and on top of that we have weakening exports and fiscal policy uncertainty.”
The stagnant labor market is one reason why more action on the monetary policy front remains an option, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke said last week. A cycle of below-average gains in employment and consumer spending is now being reinforced by a global slowdown and concern over the so-called U.S. fiscal cliff, making a rebound more daunting to achieve. The unemployment rate has exceeded 8 percent since February 2009, the longest stretch in monthly records going back to 1948. Payroll gains slowed from an average 226,000 in the first quarter to 73,000 in the April to June period, before picking up in July. Including the July advance, it has taken the U.S. three years to recover about half, or 4 million, of the 8.8 million jobs lost as a result of the 18-month recession that ended in June 2009.
Bernanke Defends Bond Purchases in Signal of More Fed Easing (Bloomberg)
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, with a little more than a year left in his second term, defended the effectiveness of unconventional monetary policies such as bond purchases and signaled he would soon deploy them again to attack unemployment. Bernanke’s remarks yesterday to central bankers and economists gathered in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, described the benefits of his signature activism and innovation. They served as a rejoinder to critics outside and inside the Fed, including Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, who maintain that the returns on his ultra-easy monetary policy are diminishing and may even pose threats such as higher long-term inflation. The 58-year-old Great Depression scholar, whose term ends in January 2014, left little doubt about his own views on the cost-benefit debate, saying the disadvantages “appear manageable, implying that we should not rule out the further use of such policies if economic conditions warrant.”
Stocks and Treasuries climbed yesterday and the dollar weakened to a more than three-month low as investors speculated steps to boost the economy may come as soon as this month. “The one point he made is that these tools work,” said Mark Spindel, founding partner of hedge fund Potomac River Capital in Washington and the former chief investment officer for $15 billion of assets at the International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group. “Given where the economy is, his message was: I am damn well charged with using them.”
China Deterioration Raises Risk of Wen Missing Target: Economy (Bloomberg)
China’s economy is showing mounting signs of deterioration from manufacturers to banks, raising the risk that outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao will miss his growth target for the first time since taking office in 2003. Manufacturing unexpectedly shrank for the first time in nine months in August, a government survey showed Sept. 1. The reading added to evidence of weakness after a surfeit of unsold goods left near-record rubber stocks at China’s main hub for the commodity and financial strains saw a 27 percent jump in overdue loans at the five biggest banks in the first half. China hasn’t failed to exceed the Communist Party’s annual growth target since the throes of the Asian financial crisis in 1998, and a miss of this year’s 7.5 percent goal may complicate a once-a-decade leadership handover. The outgoing generation of policy makers has held back on stimulus this year as it seeks to rein in a property-market boom and avoid a jump in bad debt.
“If there is no further policy response, it’s very likely that GDP growth will fall below the target and this administration will likely hand over a hard-landing economy to the next one,” said Liu Li-Gang, chief China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong. The central bank should “revert to cutting banks’ reserve requirements more aggressively to revitalize the economy. If we have a cut soon we could have good fourth-quarter growth.”
China Manufacturing Unexpectedly Contracts as Orders Drop (Bloomberg)
China’s manufacturing unexpectedly shrank for the first time in nine months as new orders contracted and output rose at a slower pace, signaling the slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy is deepening. The Purchasing Managers Index fell to 49.2 in August from 50.1 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said yesterday in Beijing. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. cut its estimate for China’s full-year growth after the report. The data increase pressure on Premier Wen Jiabao to reverse the slowdown ahead of the transfer of power to a new Communist Party leadership that begins later this year. Record unemployment in the euro area and a jobless rate stuck at more than 8 percent in the U.S. may crimp an export rebound while slumping corporate earnings, bad debts at banks and property curbs are restraining investment in China.
“The government won’t want to hand over an economy in a hard landing to the next administration, so authorities are likely to become bolder with policy easing, said Liu Li-Gang, chief China economist at ANZ in Hong Kong. “They could continue to use tax relief and faster approval of infrastructure investment to instill confidence, but the most effective policy tool in the short term is to aggressively ease the reserve- requirement ratio.”
Hong Kong Recession Risk May Increase on Exports, Tsang Says (Bloomberg)
Hong Kong’s risk of a “technical recession” may increase after declines in exports and a slowdown in retail sales, Financial Secretary John Tsang said. “We are unable to escape the impact of the European debt crisis,” Tsang wrote on his blog yesterday in Chinese. He didn’t give a forecast for third-quarter gross domestic product. Hong Kong’s economy shrank 0.1 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe capped export demand. China’s slowdown is dragging on trade, weighing on confidence and encouraging the million of mainlanders who visit each month to spend less on luxury goods. The benchmark Hang Seng Index (HSI) is down about 10 percent from this year’s high in February. Retail sales grew in July at the slowest pace since the global financial crisis. Exports fell 3.5 percent from a year earlier.
A shrinking economy would add to challenges for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who took office July 1 and faces public concern over housing costs, the gap between rich and poor and the mainland government’s role in education. Thousands of residents demonstrated on Sept. 1 to protest a planned education program they say will be Communist Party propaganda. Retail figures are “worrying” and it will be difficult for exports to return to growth in the short term, Tsang said, adding that the city also faces a risk of rising unemployment. Donna Kwok, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Hong Kong, said Aug. 30 that visitors from China are paring spending on luxury goods and consumer confidence has weakened, “weighed down by continued turbulence in global financial markets.”
South Korea’s Consumer Prices Rise 1.2% From Year Earlier (Bloomberg)
South Korea’s inflation slowed to the weakest pace in 12 years in August, according to a report released 10 days before the central bank reviews interest rates. Consumer prices increased 1.2 percent from a year earlier after a 1.5 percent gain in July, Statistics Korea said today in Gwacheon, south of Seoul. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 12 economists was for a 1.4 percent gain. Prices rose 0.4 percent from July. Europe’s debt crisis and austerity measures are weighing on exports and confidence across Asia, weakening production and growth in countries from Japan to China to South Korea. The Bank of Korea held rates steady last month after an unexpected reduction in July. Weak inflation gives more room for another cut in the benchmark. “A rate cut is likely in September to support growth,” Lee Min Koo, a Seoul-based economist at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. said before today’s data.
Core consumer prices, which exclude oil and agricultural products, advanced 1.3 percent in August from a year earlier. The Bank of Korea cut its forecast for the nation’s growth this year to 3 percent from 3.5 percent on July 13 and is likely to make a further reduction in October, according to Lee Sung Kwon, a Seoul-based economist at Shinhan Investment Corp. Signs the economy is cooling include an Aug. 29 report that the current-account surplus climbed to a record in July because of declining imports. An index measuring manufacturers’ confidence for September was at 75 from 70 the previous month, the only readings below 80 since 2009.
Japan May Add Mortgage Tax Benefits to Cushion Slow Sales (Bloomberg)
Japan may extend mortgage tax benefits by five years and raise the deduction rate to cushion an expected slowdown in home sales in 2014 when a consumption tax increase takes effect. The finance and land ministries are in talks on a plan that would save the average home buyer as much as 10 million yen ($128,000) in 2014, compared with 3 million yen this year, the Nikkei newspaper said Sept. 1 without citing the source of the information. Details will be decided later this year, it said. Home sales may slow, retarding economic growth, when the sales tax jumps to 8 percent from 5 percent, Nikkei said. Property and fund association groups are seeking a tax reduction for home buyers to counter any slowing of the housing market. “This is better than doing nothing,” Masaaki Kanno, chief economist at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., said yesterday in a telephone interview. “Numbers show the economic outlook started deteriorating already, and this is doing little more than to patch over the problem temporarily.”
The plan will call for extending to 15 years from 10 the tax benefit for new home buyers starting in 2014 and raising the deduction to as much as 2 percent of the outstanding mortgage balance from 1 percent, Nikkei said. The government will consider further benefits from 2015 when the sales tax jumps to 10 percent, it said. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in August won parliamentary approval for a boost in the sales tax to ease the government’s reliance on debt to cover the rising costs of care for Japan’s aging population.
Japan Capital Spending Rises Less-Than-Forecast 6.6% on Year (Bloomberg)
Japanese companies’ capital spending rose in the second quarter from a year earlier, boosted by the comparison with the period immediately after the nation’s record earthquake and tsunami. Expenditure excluding software gained 6.6 percent, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News was for an increase of 7.8 percent. A year earlier, spending declined 8.2 percent. Today’s report may lead the government to revise down an estimate that the economy grew an annualized 1.4 percent in April-through-June, already weaker than the 5.5 percent gain in the first quarter, RBS Securities Japan Ltd. said. Consumer prices slid in July and industrial output unexpectedly fell, underscoring the risk Japan’s recovery will peter out as Europe’s crisis and strength in the yen curb exports.
“Today’s capital spending figures look weaker than the business spending number in the preliminary GDP report,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, chief economist at Itochu Corp. (8001) in Tokyo. “Companies have slowed their business spending and will likely continue to do so in the coming months.” The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 0.5 percent as of 10:15 a.m. in Tokyo. The yen gained 0.2 percent to 78.25 per dollar, up about 7 percent since mid-March. The central bank may expand its asset-purchase program at its next meeting on Sept. 18-19, according to RBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo.
India Signals ‘Natural Death’ to Tax Plan Amid Downgrade Threat (Bloomberg)
A panel set up by India’s prime minister recommended deferring a proposal to crack down on tax avoidance by three years, a move investors said may help boost capital inflows amid the threat of a rating downgrade to junk. The General Anti-Avoidance Rule, or GAAR, outlined by former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in his March 16 budget spooked foreign investors and raised concerns that the crackdown with retrospective effect would indiscriminately apply to their holdings of stocks and bonds. A draft report released on Sept. 1 by the four-member committee, suggested delaying its implementation to the assessment year 2017-18 on “administrative grounds.” “It is definitely good news and a sentimental boost,” said Ananth Narayan G., managing director and co-head of wholesale banking at Standard Chartered Plc in Mumbai. “Essentially the proposal will be on hold for the next three years and hopefully will die a natural death, at least the retrospective clause.”
Global funds turned net sellers of Indian stocks in April and May after the proposals, pushing the rupee down to a record low as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh grappled with corruption allegations, a record current-account deficit, and missed budget targets. Singh set up the panel in July to help “reverse the climate of pessimism” after Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings cut the sovereign credit outlook to negative, a step closer to non-investment grade rating. The tax panel led by Parthasarthi Shome, a former adviser to the finance minister, also suggested abolishing taxes on proceeds from the transfer of listed securities, whether they are from capital gains or business income, for both Indians and non-residents.
Australian Retail ‘Fragile’ as Global Risks Mount, Deloitte Says (Bloomberg)
Australia’s retail recovery is fragile because a weakening global outlook is counteracting lower borrowing costs, a Deloitte Access Economics report said. Inflation-adjusted retail sales growth is forecast to be 3.4 percent in the 12 months through June 30, moderating to 2.7 percent in 2013-14 as real wage growth slows, the Canberra-based research company said in a report released today. “While retail has recovered fast, the global and Australian economic backdrop suggests that the recovery is still a fragile one,” according to the Deloitte report. “Trend sales growth may be achieved over the next year, largely as interest rates remain low, but it is a stretch to see the retail sector perform any better than that.”
Fueled by A$2 billion ($2.1 billion) in government carbon- tax rebates and benefit checks paid out since May, as well as four central bank rate cuts since November, retail sales have risen in all but one month this year. JB Hi-Fi Ltd. (JBH), Australia’s second-largest electrical goods retailer, said last month that revenue will increase this year amid a “challenging” environment.
Draghi May See Silver Lining in Disappointing Investors (Bloomberg)
Mario Draghi might not be too worried about disappointing investors this week. As markets look for the European Central Bank president to unveil details of his bond-purchase program on Sept. 6, Italy and Spain are showing little willingness to request aid from Europe’s bailout fund -- a pre-condition for the ECB to start buying their debt. A jump in bond yields may remind governments that they need to act first. “The market is expecting a lot from the ECB,” Gustavo Reis, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, wrote in a note to clients. “However, we look for little clarification on the bond-buying program. The likely market disappointment should intensify the pressure on Spain.”
Draghi’s plan hinges on governments asking the bailout fund to buy their bonds on the primary market, which would require them to sign up to strict conditions, before the ECB intervenes on the secondary market. While Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian Premier Mario Monti are heaping pressure on the ECB to act to lower their borrowing costs, they’re resisting making an application to the bailout fund for aid. “Draghi’s announcement of intervention shows the robust will of the ECB to solve the problem,” Rajoy told Spain’s ABC, Germany’s Bild am Sonntag, France’s Le Journal du Dimanche and Italy’s Corriere della Sera in a joint interview published over the weekend. “I will await the results of the ECB and then make a decision that’s good for Spain and for the euro.”
U.K. Sticks to Deficit Plan as Coalition Eyes Quicker Investment (Bloomberg)
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said his government will continue with its deficit-reduction plans amid calls from opposition lawmakers for a rethink as the economy struggles to recover from a double-dip recession. “We’ve cut the deficit by a quarter already, and we are sticking to this course: rejecting the easy path; restoring sanity to our finances,” Cameron wrote in an opinion column published yesterday in the Mail on Sunday newspaper. “We’re on a hard road to balancing Britain’s books” and “you cannot borrow your way out of a debt crisis,” he said. With Britain struggling to climb out of its second slump in three years, calls for the government to do more to spur the economy have intensified as the largest budget reductions since World War II and the euro-area debt crisis hurt demand.
While stopping short of saying he will fund new infrastructure, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said yesterday that the government will announce proposals to guarantee investment finance and is overhauling planning laws to accelerate the approval of projects. Legislation will be put forward this week, he said. The plan is for the government to “use the low interest rates we’ve earned by being tough on the deficit to help underwrite construction projects, including housing,” Osborne said in a television interview on the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show.” The government is doing “all these things to get the economy moving, to make sure that the jobs we’re already creating in this economy continue to be created,” he said.
