U.S. Added 916,000 Jobs in March as Hiring Accelerated – Wall Street Journal, 4/2/2021

• U.S. hiring surged in March as the economic recovery accelerated, the start of what economists say could be a sustained run of job growth to industries, regions and workers hardest hit during the pandemic.
• U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 916,000 jobs in March, the best gain since August, the Labor Department said Friday, and the unemployment rate, determined by a separate survey, fell to 6.0%, a pandemic low.
• Still, as of March, there are 8.4 million fewer jobs than in February 2020 before the pandemic hit.
• Friday’s report showed hiring rose in most industries, led by a gain of 280,000 in the category that includes restaurants and hotels.
• Still, employment in the overall leisure and hospitality sector is down by 3.1 million, or 18.5% from February 2020.

Service Industries in U.S. Expand at Fastest Pace on Record – Bloomberg, 4/5/2021

• U.S. service providers experienced the fastest growth on record in March as measures of business activity and orders advanced to new highs.
• The ISM’s services index soared to 63.7 from a nine-month low of 55.3, when severe winter weather gripped much of the country and curtailed activity.
• The group’s measure of new orders increased in March to a record 67.2 from 51.9 a month earlier. The gauge of business activity, which parallels the ISM factory production index, jumped to 69.4, also the highest in data to 1997, from a February reading of 55.5.
• The services figures also showed prices paid for materials jumped to 74, the highest since July 2008, from 71.8 a month earlier. Delivery times also lengthened slightly.

U.S. factory orders decline in February – Reuters, 4/5/2021

• New orders for U.S.-made goods fell in February, likely weighed down by unseasonably cold weather, though manufacturing remains strong as the economic recovery regains steam amid an improving public health situation and massive fiscal stimulus.
• The Commerce Department said on Monday that factory orders dropped 0.8% after surging 2.7% in January. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders slipping 0.5% in February. Orders increased 1.0% on a year-on-year basis.
• Unfilled orders at factories increased 0.8% in February after gaining 0.2% in January, suggesting a rebound in demand in the coming months.
• The Commerce Department also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, fell 0.9% in February instead of dropping 0.8% as reported last month.
• Shipments of core capital goods, which are used to calculate business equipment spending in the GDP report, decreased 1.1%. They were previously reported to have declined 1.0% in February.

Some Democrats Cool to Biden’s Plan to Boost Corporate Tax Rate – Wall Street Journal, 4/5/2021

• President Biden’s proposed tax increases on corporations as part of a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan have drawn a skeptical reaction from some Democrats, who instead favor borrowing money to pay for the investments or raising other levies, like the gasoline tax, to do so.
• Republicans have widely rejected Mr. Biden’s proposed tax increases, but some Democrats are raising their own questions about the plan. With very narrow majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats will need nearly unanimous support in their party to advance the package without Republican votes, and many lawmakers are floating potential changes to the plan.
• The early questions from Democrats reinforce expectations that this next wave of legislation won’t move nearly as quickly as the $1.9 trillion Covid-19-aid plan, almost entirely deficit-financed, that Mr. Biden signed into law last month.

Biden will push through infrastructure plan if no Republican support – energy secretary says – Reuters, 4/5/2021

• U.S. President Joe Biden would be willing to push through his $2 trillion infrastructure plan without the support of Republican lawmakers if he cannot reach a bipartisan deal, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Sunday.
• Granholm said Biden would prefer that his plan have Republican backing but, if that does not work, he would likely support using a procedural strategy called reconciliation to allow Democrats to pass it in the Senate.
• Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said last week that Biden’s infrastructure plan was “bold and audacious” but would raise taxes and increase debt. He vowed to fight it “every step of the way.”
• Republican Senator Roy Blunt on Sunday urged Biden to significantly scale back the plan if he wanted Republican lawmakers’ support.
• “If we’d go back and look at roads and bridges and ports and airports, and maybe even underground water systems and broadband, you’d still be talking about less than 30% of this entire package,” Blunt said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Yellen to Urge Global Minimum Company Tax to Stop Venue-Hopping – Bloomberg, 4/5/2021

• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will argue Monday for a global corporate minimum tax rate as she pushes President Joe Biden’s plans to raise levies on U.S. companies, a person familiar with her remarks said.
• Yellen’s comments, reported earlier by Axios, are part of an effort to prevent companies from seeking locations with lower taxes as the administration seeks higher levies on American firms to help pay for a $2.25 trillion infrastructure program.
• Yellen will say the U.S. is working with G-20 nations to find an appropriate minimum “that can stop the race to the bottom.”
• The U.S. is involved in talks led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development with about 140 countries to develop a global agreement on minimum levies, but participants haven’t yet reached a deal.

EUROPE & WORLD

Samsung first-quarter profit likely surged 45% on bumper smartphone, appliance sales – Reuters, 4/5/2021

• Samsung Electronics likely saw a 45% jump in profit for January-March on robust sales of smartphones, TVs and home appliances, though chip division earnings are seen tumbling after a storm suspended production at its U.S. plant.
• Operating profit for the South Korean tech giant in the quarter is expected to have climbed to 9.3 trillion won ($8.2 billion), according to a Refinitiv SmartEstimate drawn from 16 analysts.
• That would mark Samsung’s highest operating income level for the first quarter since 2018. Revenue likely rose 12%.
• Despite stratospheric demand worldwide for chips, profits for Samsung’s semiconductor division are expected to have fallen by roughly a fifth to 3.6 trillion won.
• The division has been hampered by the cost of ramping up new production and losses at its Texas factory after a winter storm halted output in mid-February.

South Korea’s LG becomes first major smartphone brand to withdraw from market – Reuters, 4/5/2021

• South Korea’s LG Electronics will wind down its loss-making mobile division after failing to find a buyer, a move that is set to make it the first major smartphone brand to completely withdraw from the market.
• Its decision to pull out will leave its 10% share in North America, where it is the No. 3 brand, to be gobbled up by Samsung Electronics and Apple with its domestic rival expected to have the edge.
• LG’s smartphone division has logged nearly six years of losses totaling some $4.5 billion.
• Dropping out of the fiercely competitive sector would allow LG to focus on growth areas such as electric vehicle components, connected devices and smart homes, it said in a statement.

Factmonster – TODAY in HISTORY

• George Washington cast the first presidential veto. (1792)
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for giving away atomic secrets to the Russians. (1951)
• Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister of Britain. (1955)