FX.co ★ Global economic flu hitting U.S.?

Deterioration of the global economic situation has made some adverse impact on the U.S.
Meanwhile, investors and analysts are expressing fears which rest on a batch of statistics. So, the U.S. retail sales edged down 0.9% in December 2014 as compared to the previous month. A number of initial unemployment benefit claims exceeded 300,000 last week. In addition, manufacturing PMIs in New York and Philadelphia indicate weak economic growth in early 2015.

However, thanks to the upbeat data on the U.S. jobs market, experts are still keeping the optimistic stance. The year of 2014 has been the best since 1999 in terms of employment rate growth. According to the report of the U.S. Department of Labor, 2.95 million Americans found jobs last year. A number of new vacancies reached a maximum by late 2014 for the recent 13 years.

Consumer spending in the U.S. maintains at a high level due to the labor market reinforcement as well as a global slump in oil prices. In this context, American businesses expect retail sales to surge and expand their output.
All these factors help to enhance consumer confidence and business climate indicator in the U.S. “The U.S. recovery will benefit mostly from a ‘home-grown’ expansion within our borders,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services.