"The labor market is clearly deteriorating"
- Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer at Albany
U.S. manufacturing sector grew at a slower pace in May, compared to April, as factories tempered production. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index declined to 53.5 from 54.8 in April, the group said on Friday.
"This signals continued moderate economic growth, not any sort of boom or bust," Michael Brown, an economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina, said. "You have the uncertainty in Europe, uncertainty around U.S. fiscal policy and the federal budget for next year."
Also Friday, Labor Department figures showed the unemployment increased to 8.2 per cent and payrolls rose a downwardly revised 69,000 in May.
"The labor market is clearly deteriorating," Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer at Albany, New York-based Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC. "Confidence in the economy is declining. Businesses are extremely reluctant to add workers when there's so much uncertainty."
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