U.S.

U.S. employers added a smaller-than-expected 113,000 new jobs in July and the unemployment rate jumped unexpectedly to 4.8 percent, Labor Department data showed on Friday.

Hiring slowed in July as employers added just 113,000 new jobs, propelling the unemployment rate to a five-month high of 4.8 percent and providing fresh evidence that companies are growing cautious amid high energy prices. Wages grew solidly.

High crude oil prices have had some impact on U.S. economic growth but the pain is not on the level seen during the energy price shocks of the 1970s, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage applications last week sank to their lowest level in over four years, as home purchase loan demand tumbled for the third straight week, an industry trade group said on Wednesday.

Investors, tired of weak returns and rising volatility in U.S. stocks, are turning to cash and fixed-income investments, including safer municipal bonds and Treasury inflation-protected securities.

Core U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in June, continuing a steady march that has taken the year-on-year rate of nonfood, nonenergy inflation to 2.4 percent, its highest since September 2002, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday.

U.S. economic expansion slowed abruptly in the second quarter to less than half the pace at the start of the year, while a key inflation gauge shot up at the fastest rate since 1994, the government said on Friday.

Legislation to overhaul the U.S. private pension system suffered another setback on Thursday as key House Republican lawmakers boycotted a negotiating meeting in a fight over whether to keep some $35 billion in tax breaks in the bill.

The U.S. economy grew overall during June through mid-July but some regions reported slowing activity, and there were scattered reports of rising prices, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.

The quickening flow of capital out of the country may be a sign that recent weakness in Canadian markets could deepen, particularly if, as looks likely, the Canadian dollar's four-year upward charge is losing steam.

For a self-proclaimed advocate of inflation-targeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke seemed remarkably unperturbed this week by recent signs that price increases in the economy are accelerating.

The number of people filing initial claims for U.S. employment benefits last week fell 30,000 to its lowest level in a month because of fewer claims from the automobile industry, the government said on Thursday.

U.S. producer prices rose a steeper-than-expected 0.5 percent last month as food prices jumped, the government said on Tuesday, leading markets to boost bets for another Federal Reserve interest rate hike.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Friday it awarded $1.16 billion in contracts to three companies to develop equipment to scan cargo at border cities for nuclear weapons material.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran's refusal to accept an international incentives offer to negotiate curbs on its nuclear programme will force major powers to decide on Wednesday to deal with the Islamic Republic at the U.N. Security Council.

The U.S. economy grew at a quick 5.3 percent pace in the first quarter of the year, more quickly than the past 2 1/2 years.

DaimlerChrysler could face a $640 million fine as a result of a bribery probe by the U.S. justice department and the U.S. stock market regulator, German weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday.

Five companies received more than $1 billion in contracts to develop new and better influenza vaccines, and to make them on U.S. territory, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department said on Thursday.

U.S. stock futures fell Thursday as China's central bank lifted interest rates and on caution ahead of testimony from the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Oil fell below $72 on Thursday, deepening losses from the previous session, as worries over U.S. gasoline supplies eased slightly ahead of the summer driving season.

Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged to President George W. Bush on Thursday that China will make more trade concessions and does not seek an excessive trade surplus with the United States.