French Gov Budget Balance -66.8B -31.0B

French Trade Balance -4.5B -4.4B -4.7B

U.S. hiring seen pointing to economy in need of Fed's help

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 7, 2013 7:40am BST

(Reuters) - U.S. employers likely stepped up hiring only slightly in May, a sign the economy was growing modestly but not strongly enough to convince the Federal Reserve to scale back the amount of cash it is pumping into the banking system.

The United States probably added 170,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate holding steady at a lofty 7.5 percent, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

FTSE100 slightly lower in quiet trade ahead of US jobs data

GBP Consumer Inflation Expectations 3.6% 3.6%

GBP Trade Balance -8.2B -8.8B -9.2B

German Industrial Production m/m 1.8% 0.0% 1.2%

FTSE100 flat in cautious trade ahead of US payroll data

CAD Employment Change 95K 16.1K 12.5K

CAD Unemployment Rate 7.1% 7.2% 7.2%

CAD Labor Productivity q/q 0.2% 0.3% 0.1%

USD Non-Farm Employment Change 175K 167K 165K

USD Unemployment Rate 7.6% 7.5% 7.5%

USD Average Hourly Earnings m/m 0.0% 0.2% 0.2%

U.S. hiring points to resilience in economy

WASHINGTON | Fri Jun 7, 2013 2:11pm BST
(Reuters) - U.S. employers stepped up hiring in May in a show of economic resilience that suggests the Federal Reserve could begin to scale back the amount of cash it is pumping into the banking system later this year.

The United States added 175,000 jobs last month, just above the median forecast in a Reuters poll, Labour Department data showed on Friday.

The unemployment rate ticked a tenth of a percentage point higher to 7.6 percent, in a relatively hopeful sign as it was driven by more workers entering the Labour force.

Still, after a winter in which the economy seemed to be turning a corner, May was the third straight month that payrolls outside the farm sector increased by less than 200,000.

Speculation has grown that the Fed could begin reducing its support for the economy by trimming bond purchases as soon as this fall, and Friday's jobs data did little to change expectations.

"It's not great, but it's good. It leaves the tapering talk still on the table," said Steve Blitz, chief economist at ITG in New York.

FTSE 100 turns on the hot tap following upbeat US jobs data

Hope you all have a great weekend. Thanks for a nice week....

G.