The US labour market showed signs of a steady slowdown in October, with job openings increasing moderately and layoffs declining, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday. Job openings, a key indicator of labour demand, rose by 372,000 to 7.744 million at the end of October. However, the September figures were revised downward to 7.372 million from the initially reported 7.443 million. Economists polled by Reuters had anticipated 7.475 million vacancies. Labour Market Dynamics While job openings increased, hires dropped by 269,000 to 5.313 million, and layoffs fell by 169,000 to 1.633 million. These figures suggest a gradual cooling of the labour market rather than a sharp contraction. Hurricanes and strikes also impacted October’s labour market data. Rebuilding efforts in storm-affected regions and the resolution of strikes at Boeing and another aerospace company are expected to contribute to a ...
M&A Securities released a research report yesterday and they believe the banking sector is bracing for a softer 2016.
Loan growths are expected to decelerate to 8% in 2016. In contrast, the 2015's loan growth is at 8.4%. Two themes take central stage for 2016 in the banking sector according to M&A, lethargic loan growth and tight liquidity environment.
For the research team in M&A, they feel that improvement in asset quality and leaner operating cost could be the drivers to support the banking sector in 2016.
Top Picks in the sector: Maybank and BIMB Holdings.
A quick look at the December 2015 banking statistics shows us a few important summary:
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| Softer 2016 for the banking sector? |
Loan growths are expected to decelerate to 8% in 2016. In contrast, the 2015's loan growth is at 8.4%. Two themes take central stage for 2016 in the banking sector according to M&A, lethargic loan growth and tight liquidity environment.
For the research team in M&A, they feel that improvement in asset quality and leaner operating cost could be the drivers to support the banking sector in 2016.
Top Picks in the sector: Maybank and BIMB Holdings.
A quick look at the December 2015 banking statistics shows us a few important summary:
- Loans growth ended at 8.4% yoy in December, similar to November. This was largely due to a fine performance in household segment, pushing the average loan growth in 2015 to hit the 9.1% mark.
- A red flag is raised as loan applications were even weaker in December with a -8.3% yoy in comparison to a -5.3% in November.
- Marginal improvement in loan approval rate, but continue to stay in the negative territory as banks tightened approval at the back of new restructures and reschedules measures by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
M&A highlighted some of the banking sector challenges in the areas of flat loans growth, tight liquidity, margin compression, rising credit cost and challenging macroeconomic conditions which might continue to hurt the banking sector.
Banking sector is a NEUTRAL for 2016 according to M&A Securities.
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