Almost every report, news account and comment on the 148,000 rise in payroll hiring in December characterized the increase as weak, mediocre or somehow disappointing. None described it as strong or solid. As a result, fears of more interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve receded. Yet all of these responses to that data were backward, and it has taken ...

Bloomberg US stocks remained down after recovering from steeper early losses, while European and Asian equities slumped. Treasuries and the dollar stabilised. Oil fell and copper rose. The S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell more than 1 percent at the open on Monday, before a rally in utility and consumer shares pulled them back up somewhat. ...

Reuters Most Middle Eastern stock markets fell on Monday in line with a weak global trend, with Saudi Arabia seeing profit-taking in cement shares, but Egypt rose on the back of several blue chips, The region had already dropped on Sunday in response to Wall Street’s plunge on February 2, so Gulf markets far outperformed other bourses in Asia, where ...