Falling U.S. labor force

Falling U.S. labor force participation reflects a weak economic recovery rather than more intractable structural factors such as skill mismatches and demographic shifts, argue Danny Blanchflower, now a professor at Dartmouth University, and Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in a draft paper.
U.S. labor force participation, the share of adults holding or actively seeking jobs, has fallen from a high of 67.3% in early 2000, with the decline accelerating after the 2008 financial crisis. At 63.2% in March, it was near its lowest level since the late 1970s.
"A substantial portion of those American workers who became inactive should not be treated as gone forever, but should be expected to spring back into the labor market if demand rises to create jobs. Labor market slack in the U.S. economy remains substantial, and subject to partial control by monetary stimulus," Messrs. Blanchflower and Posen write. Translation: There are a lot of Americans who would work if there were more jobs available, and the Fed can help spur hiring through easy credit policies.
The research adds to the debate about how much of the recent softness in U.S. economic activity can be remedied by interest rate policy at a time when borrowing costs are already close to record lows.

Crude stockpiles

West Texas Intermediate crude declined from its highest closing level in seven weeks on estimates that U.S. supplies rose last week. Brent slipped as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Ukrainian leaders.
Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, probably increased for the 13th time in 14 weeks, a Bloomberg News survey shows before Energy Information Administration data tomorrow. Russia and the U.S. traded blame for failing to rein in extremists in Ukraine as a diplomatic accord, reached last week to ease the crisis, neared collapse. Vice President Biden is meeting with officials in Kiev today.

Gold prices

Gold prices are flat in Tuesday trading, as the markets return to action after the Easter holiday. In the European session, the spot price is $1291.69. On the release front, today’s key event is Existing Home Sales. The indicator has been on a downward spiral, and this is expected to continue in the March release. Will the indicator surprise the markets with and rebound higher?
US releases ended the week on a high note, as employment and manufacturing numbers were strong. The all-important Unemployment Claims was up slightly to 304 thousand, but had no trouble beating the estimate of 316 thousand. With the Federal Reserve planning another trim to its QE program at the end of the month and speculation rising about a possible interest rate increase next year, every employment release is under the market microscope. Meanwhile, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index soared to 16.6 points, its best showing since September. This was well above the estimate of 9.6 points.

Japan’s trade deficit quadrupled

Japan’s trade deficit quadrupled in March as export growth slowed and energy imports continued to rise.A weak Japanese currency, which pushed up the cost of imports, also contributed to the widening gap.The deficit rose to 1.45 trillion yen ($14bn; £8.4bn), up from 356.9bn yen during the same month a year ago.Japan’s energy imports have been rising after it shut all its nuclear reactors in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
According to the latest trade data, imports of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) rose more than 8% in March, compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) rose nearly 4%.And Japan is having to pay more for those imports after a series of aggressive policy moves aimed at spurring economic growth – including a huge boost to the country’s money supply – have weakened the yen sharply.The Japanese currency fell nearly 10% against the US dollar between March 2013 and March this year.

Bank of Canada

The U.S. dollar was recently at C$1.1025 early Monday, from C$1.1024 late Friday, according to data provider CQG.
With investors returning after a long weekend and a dearth of economic indicators, currency markets were quiet to begin the trading week. The U.S. dollar was is expected to hug the C$1.11 level in the near term, but could improve against a weaker loonie thanks to a dovish Bank of Canada and a recovering U.S. economy.
"With an important week of data ahead and hopes that the U.S. economy is starting to that out from the winter slowdown, we still rather think the U.S. dollar is in good position to improve against the Canadian dollar,"

Breakouts stock, forex, futures trading

Trading breakouts can be high risk, high stress, low reward, and low probability or this type of trading can be low risk, low stress, high reward, and high probability. The difference lies in when you enter into this type of position.  A important way to making these work that is beyond to learn how to read and understand charts: When taking any buy or sell entries in stocks or any other market, make sure you know exactly where price is with regard to the larger time frame supply  demand curve.
No matter what you trade Stocks, Futures, Forex, and Options, understand that behind all the candles on your charts in all these markets are traders and their emotions. Many of the traders will fall for the emotional breakout trading traps while other traders will make money from them. Thus instead of entering the market on the initial move higher or lower from a level, you should trade on the first pullback into the fresh supply or demand level. This is one of the most common mistakes most traders and investors make.

Breakouts stock, forex, futures

Bloomberg Consumer Comfort

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort (COMFCOMF) Index rose to minus 29.1 in the period ended April 13 from minus 31.9 the prior week, the weakest reading since the start of February. The monthly economic expectations gauge improved in April after falling to a four-month low.
Sentiment recovered broadly last week among most income groups, with consumers’ spirits lifted in part by warmer weather that’s helped lower home-heating bills. Employment opportunities that propel bigger wage gains will provide Americans the wherewithal to extend a recent pickup in spending, supporting the economy.