The daily business briefing: May 6, 2016

(Image credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo)

Jump to category:

1. U.S. adds just 160,000 jobs in April
2. FDA to regulate e-cigarettes and ban sales to children
3. Mortgage rates fall close to lowest level of the year
4. Amazon to double its cargo jet fleet
5. GM and Lyft plan to test self-driving electric taxis

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 6 May 2016

1. U.S. adds just 160,000 jobs in April

U.S. employers added 160,000 jobs in April — fewer than expected — the Labor Department reported Friday. Economists had forecast a gain of 200,000 jobs. Analysts interpreted the number, the lowest in seven months, as an indication that slow first-quarter economic growth had sapped momentum from the nation's hiring binge. March's gains were revised down to 208,000 from 215,000 new non-farm jobs. The unemployment rate remained at 5 percent due to people dropping out of the labor force. Hourly wages rose by 0.3 percent, a bright spot in the report.

The Food and Drug Administration will start regulating electronic cigarettes, premium hand-rolled cigars, hookahs, and pipe tobacco just as it does tobacco products, the Obama administration announced Thursday. The new rules, which take effect in 90 days, will prohibit teens under the age of 18 from buying e-cigarettes. Manufacturers will have to submit currently unregulated tobacco products for approval if they were introduced after February 2007, when the now $3 billion e-cigarette industry was virtually non-existent.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Mortgage rates have dropped close to their lowest level of the year, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The rate on the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.61 percent with 0.6 points, down from 3.66 the week before. A year earlier the average rate was 3.80 percent. The movement came after the Federal Reserve's decision last week to hold off on hiking interest rates and expressed concerns about the economy. That news was followed by data showing that gross domestic product grew by a weak 0.5 percent in the first quarter.

Amazon plans to lease 20 cargo jets from Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings in a deal that will double the size of the online retail giant's new air fleet. Earlier this year, Amazon struck a similar deal with another cargo carrier, Air Cargo Transport Services. The company is pushing into logistics "so we can serve our customers faster and faster delivery speeds," Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said. The new planes will support one- and two-day deliveries for Prime customers.

General Motors and Lyft plan to start testing self-driving Chevrolet Bolt electric taxis on public roads within a year. The companies have not picked a city yet and plan to start "with a handful" of cars and expand as safety permits, said Lyft executive Taggart Matthiesen, who speaks Friday at the Detroit Techweek conference. A few months ago, GM invested $500 million in Lyft, a smaller ride-hailing rival of Uber. Google parent Alphabet this week announced a self-driving minivan project with Fiat Chrysler.

Explore More

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.