Schätzwert!
March 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. employers added 21,000 workers in February, less than the lowest forecast, and the unemployment rate held at 5.6 percent as more Americans surrendered in their search for a job.
The results follow a January gain of 97,000 that was less than previously estimated, the Labor Department said in Washington, and trailed the median forecast of 130,000 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. U.S. 10-year Treasury notes as investors surmised the Federal Reserve can hold off in raising its target interest rate.
``This sure doesn't paint a pretty picture for consumer spending going forward,'' said William Quan, director of research at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey, whose forecast of 80,000 was among the lowest in the Bloomberg survey. ``If this continues, people could be revising down their growth forecasts for the second half of the year.''
Consumer confidence and President George W. Bush's popularity have sagged as the economic expansion, tax cuts and lowest Fed benchmark interest rate in 45 years fail to ignite hiring. Critics including Senator John F. Kerry, who will challenge Bush in November, say he hasn't done enough to stop the loss of 2.3 million jobs in his tenure.
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