Jobs give no lift to shares 1:26pm: Myer chief executive Bernie Brookes looks to have entered a purple patch for the nation's biggest department store just as his board begin to seriously consider succession planning to replace the long serving and popular CEO, writes BusinessDay's Eli Greenblat. 1:15pm: China is moving to further tighten supervision of bank loans to local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) this year, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing unidentified sources. In draft guidelines, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) has told banks to keep outstanding loans to LGFVs this year unchanged from the level at the end of 2011, which was around 9.1 trillion yuan, the newspaper said. The regulator has also reiterated that banks should be prudent in buying bonds issued by LGFVs and bans lenders from guaranteeing such debts, the report said. However, the regulator would continue to support lending to provincial governments as well as unfinished projects. 12:51pm: The Australian federal government agency that assists businesses with their exporting activities does not believe the United States will sink back into recession because of its sharp budget spending cuts. The Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) expects a revival in the private sector of the world's largest economy will offset the fiscal drag from the so called "sequester" which saw billions of dollars of spending cuts automatically introduced on March 1. It cites in its monthly World Risk Developments report off-setting factors to the sequester as; lean business inventories, a marked strengthening of household balance sheets, a recovery in housing and improved credit availability. ""Together these are giving the private sector an impetus that should more than offset the headwinds from the sequester,"" EFIC chief economist Roger Donnelly said in a statement. However, the US economy does face another fiscal cliff in May when the debt ceiling must be raised again. ""But another round of brinkmanship similar to the one in August 2011, which cost the United States its AAA rating, seems less likely,"" Mr Donnelly said. 12:44pm: Some more on jobs: this chart shows that employment growth in recent months has been dominated by part-time jobs: Full-time employment rose 18K in February while part-time employment jumped a sharp 54K. In trend terms, full-time employment fell 2K in the month, not a sign of a strong labour market," says ANZ economist Justin Fabo. 11:58am: Some economist comments on the jobs growth, which we hear is the strongest in 12 years: CBA chief economist Michael Blythe: It always pays to be suspicious of big moves in either direction. Clearly the labor market is remaining in pretty good shape which suggests the economy over all is travelling nicely as well. It adds to the case the Reserve Bank has done enough and with improving trends like this, we think they'll remain on the sidelines over the rest of 2013. JPMOrgan economist Tom Kennedy: Obviously the employment change is quite good, beating market expectations by a fair way coming in at 71,500 jobs in February. But it's not as good as the headline suggests, a lot of those jobs are in part-time employment. Although in saying that it is good enough to see our jobless rate remain flat at 5.4 percent, which obviously is a good result for the broader economy. Macquarie senior economist Brian Redican: It's spectacular employment growth that was reported for February. With that kind of employment growth, obviously policy makers would be feeling pretty comfortable with the current policy settings. 11:50am: And while we're with Twitter, here's some more from BusinessDay's Paddy Manning (@gpaddymanning) who's busily tweeting away from the NSW Supreme Court where Nathan Tinkler is facing questions: Some notes appear to have been "cut off at the pass" says Newlinds ... If someone's been clever here we'll get to the bottom of it. Paddy Manning (@gpaddymanning) March 14, 2013 11:43am: The reactions to the jobs surprise are flowing in on Twitter: Seriously, mostAussie economists need to geta grip and embrace reality adam carr (@AdamCarrEcon) March 14, 2013 11:37am: Here's the development over the past months: Unemployment rate (per cent, seasonally adjusted) February: 5.4 per cent January: 5.4 per cent December: 5.4 November: 5.3 October: 5.4 September: 5.4 August: 5.1 July: 5.2 New jobs added February: 71,500 January: 10,400 December: -5500 November: 13,900 October 10,700 September 14,500 August -8800 11:17am: Sigma's decision to settle a class action brought by shareholders has dragged down its full year profit by more than 60 per cent. Excluding those costs, Sigma's net profit rose 4 per cent to $52.3 million. Its shares are up nearly 3 per cent. 10:53am: Lonsec senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said a strong rise for Myer shares was a highlight of an otherwise lacklustre open to the day's trading. The retailer posted a better than expected first half profit of $88 million.""The market has greeted it particularly well,"" Mr Heffernan said. ""Given the equanimity of world markets last night, we were going to be in the green when we started. and Myer has added a bit of fuel to the fire."" 10:48am: Nathan Tinkler has been spotted entering the NSW Supreme court precinct, ahead of a public examination by the liquidator of Mulsanne Resources. Mr Tinkler walked from Hyde Park into his barristers chambers on Macquarie Street. He is summonsed to appear to answer questions from the liquidator about a $28.4 million debt Mulsanne owed to Blackwood Corporation, and flew in from his home base of Singapore, after an attempt to prevent the examinations as an "abuse of process" was dismissed on Tuesday. Back in town ... Nathan Tinkler. 10:40am: BusinessDay's Peter Ker reports that the price of iron ore could be in the early stages of a sustained retreat, with the benchmark price for Australia's most lucrative export slipping to its lowest point of 2013. While still at historically strong levels, this morning's price of $US139 per tonne was the lowest since Christmas eve. It was also more than $US4 lower than Wednesday's quoted price and close to $US20 lower than the prices being paid for iron ore three weeks ago. For more than a month, pundits have been predicting the price would return to somewhere between $US100 and $US120 per tonne, with most saying the price rally seen over the Christmas and New Year period was unsustainable. Chinese authorities last week expressed concerns that big miners like BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale have manipulated the price back to high levels which render much of China's steel industry unprofitable. The outlook is grim. 10:16am: Here's a few thoughts from Myer boss Bernie Brooks on today's profit result. The company did not provide any financial guidance for the second half of the year. 9:58am: Some details on Myer. The department store retailer made a better-than-expected profit of $88 million in the first six months of its financial year. Myer made a net profit of $87.9 million in the 26 weeks to January 26, up one per cent from $87.3 million in the prior corresponding period. Analysts had expected a net profit of about $85 million. Total sales were $1.73 billion, up two per cent from $1.7 billion in the previous corresponding period.The retailer declared a fully franked interim dividend of 10 cents, the same as in the previous year. 9:45am: In Europe, markets were down, with Italy slipping 1.74 per cent and Italian bonds rising sharply. Italy had to pay its highest three-year borrowing costs since December at an auction as the political paralysis that triggered a credit rating cut last week sapped demand for the country's debt. The Treasury also managed to sell 15-year paper, and the 7 billion euros it raised was close to the maximum targeted amount, but investor interest was lower than expected and Italian yields rose on the secondary market after the sale. "It's slightly disappointing," said Nick Stamenkovic, rate strategist at RIA capital markets. Not only did they not manage to raise the upper end of the amount, but the yields are higher and demand is a bit lower, which is a reflection of continued cautiousness by investors given the uncertain political picture. 9:36am: Still in the US, retail sales expanded at their fastest clip in five months in February, the latest sign of momentum for an economy facing headwinds from higher taxes and pricier gasoline. The solid sales come on the heels of strong gains in employment and manufacturing. But the improvement in the economic picture is likely insufficient to compel the Federal Reserve to reduce its monetary policy support. "Consumers have been less fazed by the increase in taxes than we expected," said Gus Faucher, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh. Because the labor market has been doing a bit better than we were expecting, people are feeling a bit confident and not cutting back their spending. Retail sales increased 1.1 per cent, the largest rise since September, after a revised 0.2 per cent gain in January, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. That was well above economists' forecasts for a 0.5 per cent advance. 9:34am: Looking at the action on Wall Street overnight, US stocks edged up, with the Dow rising for the ninth straight session to another record, buoyed by surprisingly strong retail sales that suggested the economy is gaining momentum. The Dow Jones industrial average's nine-day winning streak is the longest consecutive run since November 1996. But trading volume was light. Moves have been muted in recent days as investors consolidate positions after a strong run-up in the first three months of the year. Still, weakness in stocks has been met with buying, which helped propel the market's advance. 9:33am: Good morning folks.