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BSMedia: US "Unexpectedly" Added More Jobs Than "Expected"
[FoxBusiness] The U.S. economy added 209,000 net new jobs in July, beating expectations for 183,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 4.3% from 4.4%, while the labor force participation rate edged up to 62.9% from 62.8% during the month. Average hourly earnings meanwhile increased by 9 cents.

The jobs numbers come on the heels of a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP, which revealed that 178,000 private sector jobs were added in July, below economists' expectations of 185,000.
This suggests the remaining jobs were added by companies small enough that they choose not to pay an outside firm to handle payroll for them, the traditional engine of job growth in America.
Also:
U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $43.6 billion in June

[Ynet] The Commerce Department said Friday that the trade gap slid 5.9 percent in June to $43.6 billion.

Exports of goods and services rose 1.2 percent to $194.4 billion, the highest amount since December 2014 on higher foreign demand for American soybeans, computer accessories and other products.
What about oil and natural gas?
Services exports reached a record $65.4 billion. US exports may be getting a lift from a pickup in global economic growth and a drop in the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies. A weaker dollar makes American products a better bargain in foreign markets. Overall imports slipped 0.2 percent to $238 billion on a drop in demand for cellphones and other household goods.

So far this year, the trade deficit is up 10.7 percent to $276.6 billion.
Posted by: Spike Spomoter7482 2017-08-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=494280