Job Growth May Hike Interest Rates

The 248,000 nonfarm jobs created in the United States last month brings to nearly 1 million the number of new jobs that have been added since February, the largest three-month gain since May 2000.

Manufacturers are contributing to the job growth, stepping up the pace in May with 32,000 new hires.

The increase could bolster the Federal Reserve's stance that the time is nearing for a hike in interest rates even as the country's unemployment rate has stayed pat at 5.6 percent.

The Fed policymakers have said that any rate hike will be "measured," knowing that the first in a series of rate increases will carry the potential to cause turbulence in some markets.

Source: Wall Street Journal (06/07/04);