An increased capacity of management to discharge workers without excessive cost, for example, apparently increases companies' willingness to hire without fear of unremediable mistakes. The net effect, to the surprise of most, has been what appears to be a decline in the structural unemployment rate in the United States.
Yields on long-term government bonds declined again to the range of 0.7-0.8 percent after moving in the range of 0.8-0.9 percent until mid-February. Yield spreads between private bonds (bank bonds and corporate bonds) and government bonds are contracting slightly. Stock prices are weakening slightly reflecting the heightened uncertainty about geopolitical developments and uncertainty regarding the domestic economic outlook.