Japan booked a current account surplus of 3.908 trillion yen in April, up from 2.370 trillion yen a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said in a Monday release.
However, the latest figure was down from the record-high surplus of 4.682 trillion yen in March.
The primary driver of the increase was a widening of the trade surplus in the goods account.
US equity indexes were lower on Friday amid a sell-off in mega-cap tech stocks following a stronger-than-expected jobs report.* Nonfarm payrolls surged by 172,000 in May, above the 88,000 jobs increase expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. April was revised upwards to a 179,000 increase, and March payrolls were revised upwards to a 214,000 increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.* The probability of a 25 basis-point increase in interest rates in December surged to 43%, from 36% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.* July West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell $2.76 to settle at $90.28 per barrel, while August Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $2.12 at $92.91.* Cooper (COO) shares were up about 8.6%, the top gainer on S&P 500, after the company reported stronger-than-expected growth in fiscal Q2 adjusted earnings and sales.* Insmed (INSM) shares were down roughly 10%, among the steepest decliners on the Nasdaq, after RBC Capital Markets said Friday that brensocatib shows strong physician conviction alongside a broad prescribing intent that can enable a significant growth opportunity as doctors develop experience with the drug.
The May employment report was generally strong, with payrolls growth much larger than expected, the unemployment rate steady, and hourly earnings growth faster than the previous month.Nonfarm payrolls rose by 172,000 in May after a 179,000 gain in April and a 214,000 increase in March, both revised higher from their previous estimates by a combined 93,000. Private payrolls rose by 120,000, above expectations and following a 177,000 gain in March.Leisure and hospitality jobs jumped by 70,000 in May while health care jobs were up 47,200 and government jobs rose by 52,000.The unemployment rate remained at 4.3%, with the details showing underlying improvement. The labor force rose by 83,000 as labor force participation held steady. Household employment surged by 149,000 while the number of unemployed fell by 66,000.Average hourly earnings were up 0.3% in May, faster than a 0.2% increase in April, but the year-over-year rate slowed to 3.4% from 3.6%.Consumer credit usage rose by $20.7 billion in April after a $22.3 billion gain in March, with revolving credit use rising at a faster rate and nonrevolving credit use rising at a slower rate compared with March.The Q2 GDPnow estimate from the St. Louis Fed is for a 1.606% gain, revised up from 1.047% gain in the previous estimate.
US consumer credit use rose by $20.7 billion in April, compared with a $17.7 billion increase expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and following a $22.3 billion increase in the previous month.Revolving credit use rose by $11.6 billion in April after increasing by $10.4 billion in March, while nonrevolving credit, which includes purchases of vehicles, rose by $9.1 billion after an $11.9 billion increase in the previous month.