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José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 196
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 Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute/Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, et
al.
The bright
stripes and bristles of this skipper butterfly caterpillar,(Pyrrhopyge thericles) warn predators that it packs a toxic punch, thanks to an exclusive diet of toxic plants of the genus Vismia. Toxic
caterpillars surprise scientists
By the Smithsonian Tropical Research
Institute
Scientists in Panamá compared the diets of two caterpillar species, expecting the one that exclusively consumed plants containing toxic chemicals would more easily incorporate toxins into its body than the one with a broad diet. They found the opposite. The new finding, published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, flies in the face of a long-held theory that specialist insects are better adapted to use toxic plant chemicals than non-specialists. The discovery opens new avenues for understanding plant-insect coevolution, an ongoing arms race of plants producing new defense chemicals and insects finding ways around them. Toxic plant chemicals also have potential medical applications against microbes or cancer cells. The tropical plant Vismia baccifera protects itself by producing a number of repellent chemicals, including three compounds that are toxic to living cells. Few plant-eating insects can stomach such a cocktail, but for those that can, the advantages are clear, less competition for a meal and a chemical toolkit they can use in their own defense. Skipper butterfly (Pyrrhopyge thericles) caterpillars only eat plants in the genus Vismia. The caterpillars of a large moth (Periphoba arcaei) have a much broader diet, including Vismia plants and many others. Brightly colored caterpillars, one with flamboyant stripes, and the other blue-green with bristles, teach predators to associate their striking looks with toxicity, a defensive warning system known as aposematism. “Brightly colored plant-eating insects help us to identify plants containing compounds active against important human diseases,” said Todd Capson, a former associate scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, who oversaw visiting researcher Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne, the lead author of the new study. The work documents the first known occurrence of Vismia chemicals in butterflies and moths. The researchers analyzed several life stages of the two caterpillar species for the presence and concentration of plant toxins called vismiones. While two vismione compounds are found at a ratio of 1:6 in the plants, in the specialist butterfly caterpillars the compounds were barely detectable, and at roughly equal ratios. Meanwhile, the generalist moth caterpillars contained significant quantities of the rarer of the two compounds, suggesting that they were able to actively store this plant chemical in their own bodies. Both caterpillars’ fecal matter revealed a 1:2 ratio of the plant compounds, indicating that their bodies might uptake compounds selectively or convert molecules of one type over the other. “We know very little about just how each plant-eating insect handles these chemicals, how they store them or eliminate them,” said Smithsonian staff scientist and study coauthor Annette Aiello. Some insects might isolate the compounds so they do not cause them harm, while others might convert the molecules into forms that are harder for scientists to detect. Insects that process harmful toxins without damaging their own cells have a survival advantage. For a generalist species, said Ms. Aiello, “the ability to sequester toxic compounds might be an early evolutionary breakthrough,” the first step along the pathway to becoming a toxic plant specialist. Previous work suggests that the presence of plant-eating insects sporting bright warning colors may signal plants containing potentially useful chemicals. And while specialist insects share an obvious history with their host plants, the new study suggests that generalist insects also may play an important role in the chemical arms race that drives plant-insect coevolution. “The study of insects with generalist diets can sometimes yield results that are just as rewarding as the study of specialists,” Capson said. Our reader's opinion
Transport ministry fails to plan aheadDear A.M. Costa Rica: Today's article should have mentioned that the current bridge project to build a new bridge with six travel lanes under the current bridge is inconsistent with the transport ministry's plans for the Autopista General Cañas to have four travel lanes each way from San José to the airport. The construction underway to expand the Puente Platina from four to six lanes is just one more demonstration of the myopic planning department of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes. The ministry needs to realize that every location where multiple travel lanes reduce in number creates an obstruction to traffic flow in the travel lane that continues, as drivers in the ending travel lane fail to yield the right-of-way to vehicles in the continuing lane, causing them to stop. This situation occurs repeatedly on Ruta 27 along its entire length from San José to Caldera, and in many locations along the Inter-American Highway (Ruta 1) from San José at least as far as Grecia, including where three lanes reduce to two at the bridge over the Río Virilla (Puente Platina), where two lanes reduce to one passing the airport and again a kilometer west over a two-lane bridge, and many other locations further west where lanes reduce from two to one, often because the ministry has failed to widen a culvert or small bridge as additional travel lanes have been built to accommodate increased traffic. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes has to be the most inept government institution in the country, and the most inept highway department in the Americas. Loren B. Ford
Grecia Guatemalan slide may have killed 350 By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Hope is all but gone Sunday that any survivors will be found from the massive landslide on the outskirts of Guatemala's capital. The death toll has risen to 86 and is expected to continue to rise as emergency crews dig through tons of earth for an estimated 350 missing people. Distraught relatives of the victims shoveled alongside diggers through the mounds of earth that destroyed homes in Santa Catarina Pinula on the southeastern flank of Guatemala City after Thursday night's collapse of a hillside. Every batch of earth turned up by the diggers held more personal belongings, from mattresses and books to toys and Christmas decorations. Clutching photos of loved ones, family members stood in line outside a makeshift morgue near the excavation site, some of them crying, to see if they recognized any corpses. "This is the worst thing that has happened to us," said one woman who was waiting for news about 21 missing family members. Authorities said about 125 homes were destroyed or damaged Thursday night by the sudden landslide after heavy rain. "I went on an errand for my mother and when I returned there was nothing," 17-year-old Carlos Ac said. His mother and seven siblings are still missing. The landslide struck the village of El Cambray II, in the municipality of Santa Catarina Pinula, about 15 kilometers east of the capital, Guatemala City. Loosened by rain, tons of earth, rock and trees had cascaded onto a neighborhood of El Cambray II near the bottom of a ravine, flattening houses and trapping residents who had gone home for the night. Some houses were buried under about 15 meters (50 feet) of earth, and Guatemalan disaster agency Conred said it doubted any other survivors would be found. Have you got an original Halloween tale? A.M. Costa Rica announces another of its annual Halloween story contests. We invite readers to submit a Halloween story related to Costa Rica. Stories should be 1,000 words or under. And we’ll publish the Halloween stories next month. We will try to publish as many as we can. Stories will be judged by professional writers, and the winner will get $100. By submitting the stories, the authors give A.M. Costa Rica the non-exclusive right to publish them. Send your story to editor@amcostarica.com |
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 196 | |
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| Sala IV orders highway agency to make Piedades intersection
safer |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Got a problem with the roadway? The Sala IV constitutional court may help. The court has ruled that the municipal and central governments must act to protect the security of those who travel the roads in Piedades de Santa Ana. The court found against the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes and the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad. It said that infrastructure was lacking at an intersection of the Caldera |
highway, Ruta
27, and national Ruta 22. The court told the central government to finish studies that would suggest possible locations for turnouts for buses and to begin construction within six months if the plan were feasible. The court also ordered the finishing of a pedestrian bridge at the location. In addition the Municipalidad de Santa Ana was told that it must notify property owners along Ruta 22 that they must construct sidewalks. |
| Two men gunned down by assassin in Pozos de Santa Ana |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
An assassin appears to have been waiting for two men when they arrived at a Pozos de Santa Ana home Saturday night. The men, who were on a motorcycle, were greeted with bullets as they arrived. The Judicial Investigating Organization said that a 32-year-old man with the last name of Palacios died at the scene and that his companion, a 29 year old with the last name |
of
López, died on arrival at Hospital San Juan de Dios. The shooting happened about 7:45 p.m., agents said. Agents who entered the home said they found a 15 year old there and also five one kilo packages of marijuana. There also was a 9-mm. pistol and a silencer, agents said. Palacio had only lived at the location for about a month, agents said. |
| Radio station director who promoted Talamanca development
dies |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The director of the radio station the Voz de Talamanca has died, and she is being eulogized as a person who dedicated her life to helping others. She was Elena Francis, who was born in 1938. At just 17 she traveled to the Reserva de Talamanca where she taught children and became friends with two German priests, the Rev. Bernardito Koch Kluber and the Rev. Bernardo Drug Ingermann, and worked with them to establish community organization, structure, health clinic and schools to support the people permitting the BriBri residents to become part of the 20th century. Death was believed to be due to complications from cancer. Later she became director of the radio station and worked to teach the elderly to become literate. The station was founded n 1979. "I was honored to know and work with Ms. Francis," said Peter Aborn, a Rohrmoser dentist who brings health care to the area with Project Talamaca. "Elena became a member of our association helping providing health care and other essential needs for her people. I was blessed by her wisdom, generosity, caring, limitless energy and effort to help others sacrificing her own needs." |
 Elena
Francis
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, Vol. 16, No. 196 | |||||
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| Internet found to be a new driving force in spreading
invasive species |
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By the ETH Zurich news staff
Goldenrod, Himalayan balsam, Chinese windmill palm: three plants, one problem. All are native to continents other than Europe, but were introduced to Switzerland as garden or ornamental plants. At some point they escaped into the wild, where they now threaten the native flora. This phenomenon isn’t limited to Switzerland: biological invasions happen on every continent every day. A major driver of this is global trade, which is increasingly shifting to the Internet and being conducted on auction platforms like eBay. As a result, one click is all it takes to spread potentially invasive plants from continent to continent and unintentionally encouraging biological invasions. But how much of the global trade in invasive plants is done online? To get an estimate, a group of four researchers at ETH Zurich led by Christoph Kueffer, senior lecturer at the Institute of Integrative Biology, monitored online trade of about two thirds of the world’s flora on eBay plus nine other online trading platforms. For 50 days, the researchers tracked which plant species were offered for sale in various countries, and how often. Their efforts were aided by a software program developed especially for the study. In addition, the researchers looked to lists of invasive plants, kept by various bodies including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature for information about whether the plants for sale were classified as invasive somewhere in the world. The eBay data the researchers used was collected exclusively from publicly available listings. “eBay benefits from making sale listings accessible to computer programs that can systematically search for and analyze online content automatically,” says Luc Humair, who wrote the program. This is what made the ETH monitoring project possible. Even so, the researchers’ program could do no more than monitor the supply side. It couldn’t determine if buyers and sellers in particular geographic regions were actually concluding business. “Naturally it would be interesting to factor the destination into the monitoring process,” said Humair. However, that information is personal and can be collected only with the cooperation of eBay or the other providers. What the program was able to discover despite this limitation surprised the study’s lead author, Franziska Humair. “We didn’t expect the global trade in plants that are |
 Wikimedia
Commons/ Leonardo Ré Jorge
Passiflora
edulis or passionfruit, is an attractive ornamental plant,
native to Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina.known to be invasive to be so extensive,” he said. The study was recently published in Conservation Biology. Over the 50 days of the monitoring phase, the researchers found 2,625 different plant species offered for sale on eBay. That corresponds to about 1.4 percent of the seed plants they were looking for. Of all the plants for sale, 510 are known to be invasive in at least one region somewhere in the world. And out of that group, 35 are on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s list of the 100 worst invasive species. Passiflora edulis or passionfruit, is the invasive plant most often offered for sale. It turns up about 90 times a day, offered by dealers from 17 countries spread over five major geographic regions. This species is highly invasive in the tropics. The second most frequently offered plant is the cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), which is put up for sale more than 80 times a day on average. Deemed invasive in certain parts of the United States, this species is traded by dealers located in 10 countries in five regions. Meanwhile, the plant put up for sale most often has not yet proved invasive. Native to the steppes of Africa and Arabia, the desert rose (Adenium obesum) is listed for sale more than 3,100 times a day on average by dealers from 12 countries. The plant sellers found in the study were located in 65 countries. Offers to sell invasive species came from 55 of these countries, including Australia. Dealers there offer invasive plants that can be harmful in other parts of the world on a grand scale. “That was unexpected, since the Australians don’t allow you to bring any invasive plants across their borders. But surprisingly, there are apparently no controls in place to make sure potentially harmful plants don’t leave the continent,” says Kueffer. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| U.S. Supreme Court prepares for term with tough cases By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
The new term for the U.S. Supreme Court is set to begin this week after a three-month break following major rulings on same-sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act in June. The nine judges, five appointed by Republican presidents and four by Democrats, will begin looking at cases Monday, but the recent liberal leaning decisions may not be reflective of what is expected to come this term, experts say. Here are some of the cases that already are on or likely to appear on the U.S. Supreme Court’s agenda this term, which ends in June: Public unions Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association will challenge whether labor unions in the public sector can require employees to pay collective bargaining fees even if they do not share the union’s views. Affirmative action Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin questions the constitutionality of using race as one of various factors in the college admissions process. The Constitution’s 14th Amendment provides equal protection to all citizens, and this case challenges whether using race in college admissions to create a diverse student body gives an unequal advantage to people of certain races. Voting/redistricting Evenwel v. Abbott questions whether Hispanic citizens’ opinions are unfairly favored while giving conservative voters less of a voice because of the way voting districts are divided. The 14th Amendment’s equal protection of citizens ensures a one person, one vote policy, and the court will determine where current electoral district divisions are unfairly giving certain populations more weight when voting. Abortion There are questions about whether a Texas law that restricts access to abortion providers prevents women from seeking safe abortions. Those challenging this law said there is more of a focus on shutting down clinics and less of a focus on ensuring women’s health protection. South Carolina is slammed by massive amounts of rain By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
South Carolina's governor is pleading with residents to stay home because she says more rain is on the way in the worst rainstorm in the state's history. Gov. Nikki Haley said Sunday as much as 61 centimeters (23.5 inches) of rain has fallen in some parts of the state on the southern U.S. Atlantic coast, making it the worst storm there in 1,000 years. Small ponds have turned into huge lakes and tiny streams have become rivers. She appealed to people to not step outside just to take a look. Gov. Haley said much of the standing water contains potentially deadly bacteria, and even some rescuers who went to pull people out of floodwaters found themselves stranded and needing help. Several major highways are shut down, including parts of Interstate 95, the key East Coast highway running from Maine to Florida. Schools, businesses and state offices across the state are closed. Three storm-related deaths have been reported so far, and President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency, ordering federal authorities to help state efforts. Forecasters predict the rain in South Carolina will continue until Tuesday, but they say it will not be until the end of the week before water levels start to drop. They blame the rainstorm on a slow-moving front that is sucking in tropical moisture from the Atlantic Ocean. The South Carolina storm is unrelated to Hurricane Joaquin. That Category 2 storm was passing near Bermuda Sunday after pounding the Bahamas with heavy rain and powerful winds. French Riviera is pounded by storm and 17 are dead By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
Torrential rains pounded the French Riviera overnight Saturday, dumping nearly 18 centimeters of rain in three hours on the fabled Mediterranean coastline and turning it into a sea of mud. Authorities say at least 17 people were killed. Residents said victims were found dead in homes, campsites and cars submerged in a tunnel in a town between Cannes and Antibes, where several others were found dead in a retirement home. Hundreds of Italian pilgrims, many of them elderly and returning from the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes, were stranded on trains in the region, while hundreds of tourists were holed up at shut down regional airports. French President Francois Hollande visited the region Sunday, expressing official condolences to families and urging residents to remain cautious and avoid roadways, many of them damaged and blocked by trees, mud and debris. A spokesman for the French rail company SNCF told the French news agency that railway infrastructure, including track, crossings and power lines, were seriously damaged near Cannes, before the storm moved eastward toward the Italian coast. Searchers find debris at site where container ship vanished By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
Searchers have spotted multiple objects in the water in the area where a container ship with 33 people on board went missing Thursday in the southeastern Bahamas. The U.S. Coast Guard says life jackets, life rings, containers and an oil sheen were located Sunday, but the objects have not yet been confirmed to be from the 240-meter container ship, El Faro, which disappeared in the eye of Hurricane Joaquin. The storm is weakening as it heads north and has been downgraded to a Category 3 storm with winds near 185 kilometers per hour. Joaquin was expected to bring hurricane conditions and life-threatening storm surges to Bermuda late Sunday when the storm center passed near the island. Oregon shooting continues to inflame a polarizing issue By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
Last week’s mass-shooting at an Oregon college that left 10 people dead has revived the politically-polarizing issue of gun violence in the United States and what, if anything, should be done about it. “I don’t know what to feel right now,” said Sara, a student at Umpqua Community College. “I’m terrified. I don’t want to go back there for a long time.” An outpouring of shock and grief in Oregon comes months after a deadly mass shooting at a South Carolina church and nearly three years after a bloodbath at a Connecticut elementary school. In each case, tragedy spurs fierce debate on Capitol Hill. But legislation aimed at curbing America’s firearms mortality rate, the highest among developed nations, has been stymied for years. “We’ve become numb to this,” said a visibly angry President Barack Obama Thursday. “This is a political choice we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose loved ones because of our inaction.” Those running to succeed Obama are speaking out. “I know there is a way to have sensible gun control measures that help prevent violence, prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands and save lives,” said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Republicans are far less enthusiastic about a legislative approach. “Before we start calling for more laws, I think we ought to consider why we don’t enforce the laws we have,” said Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina. Fellow Republican Jeb Bush made headlines with a comment about the challenges of leadership in general, but which many saw as insensitive to the tragedy in Oregon. “Look, stuff happens. There’s always a crisis,” Bush said. “And the impulse is always to do something, and it’s not necessarily the right thing to do.” In 2013 a bill to better-scrutinize firearms purchasers was blocked in the Senate by gun-rights defenders. Today’s Republican-led Congress has even fewer members willing to consider gun control legislation. But the president is undeterred. “This will not change until the politics change and the behavior of elected officials changes,” Obama said. “And so the main thing I’m going to do is talk about this on a regular basis.” The Democratic Party leader in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is calling for a special commission to probe gun violence and recommend legislative solutions. Meanwhile, America’s biggest gun-rights lobbying group, the National Rifle Association, has not commented officially yet on the Oregon tragedy or the political firestorm it rekindled. Transparent probe promised of U.S. air strike on hospital By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter pledged on Sunday a full and transparent investigation of the U.S. air strike at a hospital in northern Afghanistan that left at least 22 people dead early Saturday. That bombing triggered a firestorm of criticism from aid groups, including the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, which operated the medical facility in Kunduz. Carter, speaking Sunday to reporters enroute to Spain, cautioned that the situation in Kunduz is confused and complicated, while vowing that we will get the facts. He also said he has ordered U.S. forces to provide any medical aid needed in the area. Carter spoke as Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, demanded an independent international probe of the bombing, which it said killed 12 hospital staff and 10 patients. Earlier Sunday, Afghan authorities said 10 to 15 Taliban fighters were hiding in the hospital and on its grounds. Hamdullah Danishi, the acting governor of northern Kunduz province, told the Washington Post: "we tolerated their firing for some time" before responding. But MSF, in a statement, said "not a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the MSF hospital compound prior to the U.S. air strike," adding that "in any case, bombing a fully functional hospital can never be justified."  20th Century Fox
photo
Matt Damon as the
stranded Martian explorerTale of
stranded astronaut
sticks closely to science By the A.M. Costa Rica wire service
Ridley Scott's new movie "The Martian" isn't as faithful to Andy Weir's bestselling novel as it is to the science that underpins the book. It's hard to find any other science-fiction film that has stuck so faithfully to the practical challenges of living and surviving in space since Ron Howard's "Apollo 13." The film manages to create a cinematic experience and a riveting plot based on the idea that man can survive on Mars as long as he’s done the math. It sounds dry, but Ridley Scott pulls it off with majesty. During a month-long mission on Mars, the five-man crew of Ares 3 encounters a megastorm they didn't plan for, and the team is called home. The craft's commander in-chief Mellisa Lewis orders an emergency evacuation. In the process, Mark Watney, one of the five crew members gets impaled by a flying communications antenna. Lost in the storm his fellow crewmen leave him behind for dead. NASA chief Teddy Sanders, played by Jeff Daniels, announces Mark Watney's death to the media. His fellow crewmen and guilt-ridden commander mourn his loss. The only problem is that Watney is very much alive. But the question is: for how long? Based on the food and water the crew left behind, Watney figures he has supplies for 31 days, and unfortunately, thanks to the storm he has no way to make contact with NASA ground control. But the movie, which is a celebration of human ingenuity, makes this just another challenge for Watney, an ingenious, scientist specializing in botany. The determined loner simply decides to survive and hatches a plan to grow food and water on a barren, dusty planet where nothing grows. Meanwhile he is working on establishing alternative methods of communication with Earth. When he finally reaches NASA, and a rescue plan is hatched news still remains bleak. He has to survive a whole year before help arrives. On the red planet, things can go wrong at any moment and they do. Sci-fi iconic filmmaker Scott says no other science-fiction film has gotten science so accurately down as "The Martian." “It is near fact as it could possibly be. So the challenges are reality not fantasy. There is nothing in there that you can’t do, " he said. "There is nothing in there that he uses that isn’t already on Mars.” Like a post-modern Robinson Crusoe, Watney uses his ingenuity and intellect to survive. Matt Damon interprets Watney, an astronaut trained to use science as his compass and an individual exemplifying human resilience. When things go bad Watney uses gallows humor to overcome despair. When loneliness strikes he talks to a computer, building an electronic log for posterity and when his resources get destroyed and hope is diminished he simply gets back to to work. |
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More plant
stories from the understory
With the hot sun recently, I have spent a lot of time in my understory
So, what else goes in your understory garden? Well, it's a jungle out there so you probably have any number of things that you want to keep. Chief among them are the philodendrons. Philodendron are epiphytes. They do not harm the trees they grow on, although they can get so large and heavy that they break a branch or pull down a sapling. What do I like about them? Those leaves are amazing. Look at a young specimen near the ground, and you will see small leaves. Look at a mature specimen up in a tree, and the leaves are huge. Why? As the plant grows upwards, the leaves respond to increasing light and get bigger. Then there are the types of leaves, heart-shaped, lobed, pinnate, spear-shaped. The differences make you wonder if they are all the same genus of plants. But let's look down. Besides those ferns we talked about, you are going to find plants that are often called fern allies. These are smaller plants, in the understory usually less than 25 cms. (10 inches) in height, that have a fern-like appearance. Spikemoss and club moss are the most common in my area. Like ferns, they reproduce with spores. Fern allies are easy to transplant and enjoy the leaf litter in your understory area. Then there are the anthurium and pentagonia groups, both locally called tabacón. These are terrestrial, and grow long leaves from a usually unbranched center. Some are small. Some grow to 7 meters (25 feet). Flowers are on a central spike. I try to find the smaller ones. Seven meters is a bit much, even for me.
 A.M. Costa Rica/Victoria
Torley
Plant of the Week
This is one of the fern allies that I love to have growing
wherever there is dense shade. It is from the genus selaginella and is generally called
spikemoss. But then again, other things are called spikemoss too. If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the editor. And, for more garden tips, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arenal-Gardeners/413220712106845 |
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| From Page 7: U.S. employment posts disappointing gain By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. companies added only 142,000 jobs in September, well below the 200,000-plus that many analysts were expecting. But American consumers are buying cars again, the housing market has picked up and the construction sector is looking for workers. Aside from a decline in manufacturing, analysts say the U.S. economy, with the unemployment rate holding steady, is doing reasonably well. So why the weak job numbers in September? "Our take on this," said Barclay's chief economist Michael Gapen, "is that we think it clearly reflects a slowdown in global growth and some of the heightened volatility in financial markets that we saw in August." The increased volatility coupled with the slowdown in Asia most likely made employers more cautious about hiring. It also means the U.S. central bank was probably right to delay an interest rate hike many expected would come in September, said PNC chief economist Gus Faucher. “I think they were concerned about the impact of the international economy on the U.S. economy," he said. "That may be what we’re starting to see here, so they did decide to hold off on raising rates in mid-September. That being said, I still think that we may see a rate increase in either December or in early 2016.” August job figures were revised sharply lower to show only 136,000 jobs added that month, the Labor Department said Friday. That figure and the September number combined to result in the smallest two-month gain in employment in over a year. The jobless rate, however, held steady at 5.1 percent. The unemployment rate is derived from a separate survey of households that showed 350,000 workers dropping out of the labor force last month, as well as a lower level of employment. The share of the population in the work force, which includes people who have jobs or are looking for one, fell to 62.4 percent, the lowest level since 1977. After the release of Friday's data, U.S. stock index futures slid, Treasury yields sank and the dollar fell sharply against a basket of currencies. |
