6.3%
Canada added more jobs than expected last month and the country’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since 2008 in the latest sign of the economic recovery. The North American county added 22,000 jobs last month, according to Statistics Canada. The jobless rate slipped to 6.2 per cent from 6.3 per cent, matching the lowest level since October 2008.
Economists had expected Canada to tack on 15,000 jobs, with the jobless rate holding steady at 6.3 per cent.
0.4%
Economic growth in the UK is likely to have “nudged” upward so far in the third quarter, according to estimates from an influential think-tank. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research estimates that gross domestic product increased 0.4 per cent in the three months to August, compared to 0.2 per cent in the prior three-month period. Niesr said the estimate is in line with its forecasts for third-quarter growth of 0.4 per cent. That would be below the long-run trend of 0.6 per cent quarterly growth, but still an improvement after a particularly disappointing quarter.
$6.5bn
Venezuela has asked Moscow to restructure the country’s debt, Russia’s finance minister has said, in a sign of the country’s deepening financial distress. Russia has become a critical lender to the crisis-wracked country, through state loans and financial assistance by state oil producer Rosneft to Venezuela’s PdVSA. Rosneft, controlled by the Kremlin, extended US$1bn in additional credit to PVDSA earlier this year in the form of pre-payments for oil supplies, bringing total lending to its Venezuelan counterpart to US$6.5bn.
12%
The dollar has plumbed its lowest level in 33 months, succumbing to pressure from a combination of market concerns, ranging from hurricane damage and North Korea to the composition of the Federal Reserve and its policy direction. The index measuring the dollar against a basket of its major peers fell 0.5 per cent on Friday to touch 91.011, a level not seen since January 2015. The latest drop extends a decline that began in early January and now runs to a drop of 12 per cent for 2017.
2040
France is set to present a new law on Wednesday banning the production and exploration of oil and natural gas by 2040 on its mainland and overseas territories. The draft bill says that current drilling permits will not be renewed, according to the Associated Press.
THIS WEEK’S HOMOUR
Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of cheques – Steven Wright
She has the answer to everything and the solution to nothing – Oscar Levant
