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Employers in the U.S. added fewer jobs than forecast in March, underscoring Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke

The number of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low last week, offering further evidence the jobs market recovery was gaining traction.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest level since February 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The prior week’s figure was revised up to 353,000 from the previously reported 351,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 354,000 last week.

The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, declined 1,250 to 355,000.

The claims data covered the survey week for March nonfarm payrolls. Claims dropped 5,000 between the February and March survey periods, suggesting another month of solid job gains.

“That’s another indication that the labor market is healing. That’s good news for the March payroll report,” said Gus Faucher, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.

“We are looking at net job growth of 200,000, which will be another good month. On the labor front, we have dug a deep hole but we seem to be digging out of it.”

Employers added 227,000 jobs to their payrolls in February, taking the tally for the past three months to 734,000. The unemployment rate currently is at 8.3 percent, having dropped 0.8 percentage point since August payday loan.

The Federal Reserve has said it expects the jobless rate to “gradually” decline.

U.S. Treasury debt prices fell on the data and the dollar extended gains against the euro. U.S. stock index futures held their losses as investors worried about slowing growth in China.

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state-level data and that only two states - Alaska and Minnesota - had been estimated.

The department next week will introduce new seasonal factors for 2012 and revisions for claims data from 2007 through 2011.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 9,000 to 3.35 million in the week ended March 10, the lowest since August 2008.

Despite the improving labor market picture, long-term unemployment remains a major problem and about 43 percent of the 12.8 million out of work Americans in February had been jobless for more than six months.

The number of Americans on emergency unemployment benefits dropped 24,312 to 2.85 million in the week ended March 3, the latest week for which data is available.

A total of 7.28 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs, down 142,499 from the prior week.

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The ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Greece to the lowest rating on its bond scale late Friday, following a deal with private investors that would see them ultimately lose an estimated 70 percent of their holdings in Greek debt.

Moody’s lowered Greece’s sovereign rating to C from Ca, arguing that the risk of default remains high even a bond-swap deal with banks and other private investors, due to be completed this month, is successful.

It said it would “re-assess the credit risk profile” after Greece issues the new bonds.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s took similar action on Feb. 27.

The swap deal aims to cut euro107 billion ($144 billion) from the country’s debt, and would see private investors lose more than half the face value of their Greek bonds in exchange for new ones issued with more favorable repayment terms for the crisis-hit country.

The exchange is an integral part of a second bailout package for Greece by other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

“Looking ahead, the EU program and proposed debt exchanges will reduce Greece’s debt burden, but the risk of a default even after the debt exchange has been completed remains high,” Moody’s said.

“Moody’s believes that Greece will still face medium-term solvency challenges: its stock of debt will still be well in excess of 100 percent of gross domestic product for many years, the country is unlikely to be able to access the private market once the second assistance package runs out, and its planned fiscal and economic reforms will still face very significant implementation risks.”

Greece has been relying since May 2010 on rescue loans from eurozone partners and the IMF. But despite receiving euro73 billion from its initial euro110 billion bailout and pushing through tough austerity measures in return, the country has consistently missed its reform targets.

To limit a threat to Europe’s single currency, its leaders have agreed to extend the country a second bailout, this time worth euro130 billion ($172 billion), which is accompanied by the debt reduction deal.

So far, the eurozone has agreed in principle to release the first batch of bailout loans to Greece to finance the bond-swap, with the final green light to due till come next week.

But harsh austerity has pushed the country into a fifth year of recession and seen the unemployment rate reach nearly 21 percent.

Earlier Friday, provisional figures from the finance ministry figures showed Greece posting a deficit in January of euro490 million ($652 million), in contrast to last year’s equivalent surplus of euro154 million.

The ministry’s General Accounting Office said revenues during the month were hit by the expiry of a one-off business tax, as well as reduced revenues from consumption.

Revenues in January totaled euro4.87 billion ($6.48 billion). Though a little bit better than the government’s latest target, it’s markedly worse than last year’s equivalent of euro5.12 billion.

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Mining company Anglo American PLC posted Friday a record operating profit for last year following big advances in its coal and diamonds operations.

The group reported a record operating profit before special items and remeasurements of $11.1 billion, up 14 percent on the year before. Underlying earnings per share were 23 percent higher and the full-year dividend was raised 14 percent to $0.74 per share.

However, its net profit declined 6 percent to $6.17 billion from $6.54 billion in 2010, when it posted a big gain on asset disposals. Gains on asset disposals last year fell to $183 million compared to $1.6 billion in 2010, as the company said sales of noncore operations have been largely completed.

Anglo American shares were up 1.2 percent at 2,675 pence in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.

Chief Executive Cynthia Carroll said the group completed three major projects in 2011: the Kolomela iron ore mine in South Africa, the expansion of the Los Bronces copper mine in Chile and the Barro Alto nickel operation in Brazil.

Anglo American agreed in November to sell its 24.5 percent stake in Anglo American Sur, its copper assets in Chile, to Mitsubishi for $5.4 billion. That sale is being challenged by Codelco, Chile’s state-owned copper miner, which has an option to take a 49 percent stake.

A more detailed look at the results shows that overall revenues swelled 11 percent to $36.5 billion.

The company also reported record operating profits for coal and diamonds. The operating profit for iron ore and manganese, the biggest sector within Anglo American, was up 23 percent.

Anglo American raised its stake in the De Beers diamond business to 85 percent in November when it bought the Oppenheimer family’s shares. DeBeers’ sales were up 26 percent last year to $7.4 billion

“Despite short term uncertainty persisting in the global economy, particularly in Europe, the longer term outlook for Anglo American’s diversified mix of commodities remains strong,” Carroll said.

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The Bank of Korea held off raising borrowing costs for an eighth straight month as the economy slowed and exports declined due to the European debt crisis.

Governor Kim Choong Soo and his board kept the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate unchanged at 3.25 percent, the central bank said in a statement in Seoul today. The unanimous decision was predicted by 18 of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Policy makers in export-driven Asian countries have relied on monetary or fiscal stimulus to weather the European debt crisis. Australia unexpectedly held off cutting interest rates this week on signs of improvements in the U.S. and Europe. Kim has signaled that rates will have to rise at some point and said today that inflation expectations are high and the central bank is

A U.N. nuclear team arrived in Tehran early Sunday for a mission expected to focus on Iran’s alleged attempt to develop nuclear weapons.

The U.N. nuclear agency delegation includes two senior weapons experts _ Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa _ suggesting that Iran may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations.

The delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency is led by Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, who is in charge of the Iran nuclear file. Also on the team is Rafael Grossi, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano’s right-hand man.

In unusually blunt comments ahead of his arrival in Tehran, Nackaerts urged Iran to work with his mission on probing the allegations about Iran’s alleged attempts to develop nuclear weapons, reflecting the importance the IAEA is attaching to the issue.

Tehran has refused to discuss the alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on “fabricated documents” provided by a “few arrogant countries” _ a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the United States and its allies.

Ahead of his departure, Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport he hopes Iran “will engage with us on all concerns.”

“So we’re looking forward to the start of a dialogue,” he said: “A dialogue that is overdue since very long.”

In a sign of the difficulties the team faces and the tensions that surround Iran’s disputed nuclear program, a dozen Iranian hard-liners carrying photos of slain nuclear expert Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were waiting at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport early Sunday to challenge the team upon arrival.

That prompted security officials to whisk the IAEA team away from the tarmac to avoid any confrontation with the hard-liners.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency confirmed the team’s arrival and said the IAEA experts are likely to visit the underground Fordo uranium enrichment site near the holy city of Qom, 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the capital, Tehran.

During their three-day visit, the IAEA team will be looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program, inspect documents related to such suspected work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits to sites linked to such allegations. But even a decision to enter a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from Iran’s frequent simple refusal to talk about them.

The United States and its allies want Iran to halt its enrichment of uranium, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes, such as generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.

Iran has accused the IAEA in the past of security leaks that expose its scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.

Iranian state media say Roshan, a chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was interviewed by IAEA inspectors before being killed in a brazen bomb attack in Tehran earlier this month.

Iranian media have urged the government to be vigil, saying some IAEA inspectors are “spies,” reflecting the deep suspicion many in Iran have for the U.N. experts sent to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites.

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The French and German leaders are stressing that they view boosting economic growth a priority as they push through with efforts to stem the eurozone’s debt crisis.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that Europe should compare countries’ labor market practices and learn from the best; and they called for European funds to be used in a way that create jobs.

Both leaders also said they’re prepared to consider speeding up payments into the 17-nation eurozone’s permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, in an effort to bolster confidence.

They’re calling for a quick conclusion to negotiations on a new treaty enshrining fiscal rules.

Still, Merkel says that resolving the crisis will be “step-by-step … there’s no single-dimension solution.”

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