U.S. economy is on a moderate growth path, jobs and consumer price data show

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By Reuters
Friday, March 19, 2010
Labor market and consumer prices data showed Thursday that the U.S. economy is on a moderate growth path and that inflation pressures are contained, backing up the Federal Reserve's vow to keep benchmark interest rates ultra-low for some time.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000, to 457,000 last week, the Labor Department said, suggesting that the jobs market was improving, but only gradually. Analysts said the small decline in initial jobless claims was indicative of a labor market that was slowly healing.
About 8.4 million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession in December 2007, and creating employment is critical to the economy's transition from a government-aided recovery to a self-sustained one. President Obama, who has made tackling unemployment a priority, signed into law a $17.6 billion jobs bill Thursday...