Moody's Say's cheaper Oil WILL NOT boost global growth...

Lower oil prices will fail to give a "significant boost" to global growth in the next two years, Moody's has said.

The ratings agency said any boost from cheaper oil would be offset by the eurozone's economic woes as well as slowdowns in China, Japan and Russia.

As a result, Moody's said it would not be revising its growth forecasts for the G20 countries.

"For the G20 economies, we expect GDP growth of just under 3% each year in 2015 and 2016."

US oilfield services firm Halliburton has said it will cut up to 8% of its global workforce of 80,000, citing a "challenging market environment" as the oil price continues to tumble.

Shares in Halliburton - the world's second-largest oilfield services company - fell nearly 3%...

Personally I could give a shit about Halliburton stock, if and when I play the Stock Markets I play indexes and ETF's, rarely individual stocks...

The point is, if Halliburton is any example to the rest of the oil industry (which it is), you can expect to see massive layoffs coming out of the U.S. Energy Sector through the next two Quarters, somewhere between 6 and 10% of the workforce...

The U.S. economy’s growth rate in the fourth quarter is looking worse than initially thought

The U.S. economy’s growth rate in the fourth quarter is looking worse than initially thought http://t.co/PmKsQOo5rC pic.twitter.com/mmYMeOwWVz

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http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=27697

Falling oil prices also contributed to job cuts in the industrial goods manufacturing sector, where companies supplying products and materials to oil drillers were forced to shutter operations. These firms announced 4,859 job cuts in January, of which 1,600 (or 33 percent) were due to oil prices, the report says.

“We may see oil-related job cuts extend well beyond those industries directly involved with exploration and extraction,” says John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. “The economies throughout the northern United States that have been thriving as a result of the oil boom could experience a steep decline in employment across all sectors, including retail, construction, food service and entertainment.”

Mr. Challenger notes, however, that there are a number of industries throughout the country that will benefit from falling energy prices. Delta already reported significant savings tied to lower fuel costs. The airline is also seeing more travelers as lower ticket prices are spurring purchases from travelers, who have more money in their wallets. Trucking companies, plastics manufacturers and paint makers are also seeing bottom lines improve, he says.

“Despite the recent surge in job cuts, the net result of falling oil prices could ultimately prove to be positive for the economy as a whole,” Mr. Challenger says. “Not only will many industries see cost savings, but consumers will have more money for discretionary spending on things like dining out, travel, and entertainment. Lower prices at the pump has also been linked to higher sales of SUVs and other less fuel-efficient vehicles.”

While retailers may ultimately benefit from falling oil prices, the sector did, in fact, post the second largest job cut total in January, behind energy. Employers in the sector announced 6,699, the bulk of which came from the perennially struggling JC Penney and teen fashion retailer Wet Seal.

Despite large layoff announcements from the two companies, retail job cuts were still lower than the same month a year ago, when stores announced 11,394 cuts coming out of the holiday season.

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