After months of disappointment, the U. S. labor market showed signs of vigor in February as job growth accelerated and the unemployment rate fell for the third straight month. Nonfarm payrolls grew by a seasonally adjusted 192,000 in the month, the fastest pace since last May, the Labor Department. The nation’s unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 8.9% in February — the lowest level since April 2009 — from 9.0% in January. (Source: Market Watch).

Moody’s Investors Service cut Greece’s sovereign debt rating three notches to B1, slightly denting the euro amid renewed worries about the ability of Greece and other debt-loaded euro-zone governments to avoid default. (Source: Market Watch).

China will make maintaining the stability of prices as the top priority of macroeconomic control this year, according to Premier Wen Jiabao at the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress. Wen said China will limit overall CPI at 4%, and that in addition to CPI, China will also work to curb excessive increases in house prices this year. (Source: China Securities Journal)

The People's Bank of China (PBC) will adjust monetary policy tools including banks reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and interest, in order to keep the liquidity at a reasonable level, said Yi Gang, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China (PBC) & Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. (Source: China Securities Journal)

An indicator of investor sentiment in the Eurozone rose to its highest level in nearly three-anda- half years in March, latest survey showed. The Sentix investor sentiment index, an indicator of confidence around 900 investors, rose to a new high of 17.07 in March from 16.70 in February. The indicator rose for a third consecutive month. Economists were looking for a score of 17.2. (Source: RTT News)

Japan's leading index improved for a third month in January to reach the highest level since August 2006, preliminary estimates from the Cabinet Office revealed. The leading index rose to 101.9 in January from 101 in the previous month, but stayed below the expected reading of 102.3. (Source: RTT News)

Japan’s machinery orders rose more than economists expected in January, signaling that companies will boost spending as economic recoveries abroad strengthen. Factory orders increased 4.2 percent from December, the biggest jump in five months, the Cabinet Office said. Orders, an indicator of capital spending in three to six months, were projected to climb
3 percent, according to the median forecast of 28 economists. (Source: Bloomberg)