-Jack Lew, Treasury Secretary
According to the Federal Reserve, the US labour market lost some traction in the beginning of the year, after a strong run toward the end of 2014. The labour market conditions index dropped to 4.9 points in January, the weakest level in four months compared to an upwardly revised 7.3 in the prior month. Jack Lew, US Treasury Secretary, said that the world's number one economy has turned the corner, with a strong growth in business activity and jobs. However, there is one area where Lew would like to see further improvement which is wages, despite a 12 cents an hour increase in January's employment report, that represented the largest monthly gain in the economic recovery and an annualized growth rate of 2.2%. Lew added that the strong Dollar would be a topic of conversation at this week's two-day meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Istanbul, Turkey. Meanwhile, the former head of the US Treasury Larry Summers said that there is plenty of reasons to maintain interest rates low. Thus, Summers urged the Fed policy makers to consider interest rate hike only when inflation starts to pick up at a solid pace. He also added that in the current situation where there is a potential that problems in Europe, Japan or emerging markets will lead to safe haven flows that could bring the Dollar to the point where the US economy could be significantly slowed, raising rates could further exacerbate these risks.
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