"We think, without question, the lion's share of that surprise increase is a result of this effort," the director of the Department of City Planning, Joseph B. Rose, said in an interview.
Crude futures drifted lower Thursday, extending steep declines that came as the U.S. government reported a surprise increase in stocks of oil and distillates, allaying fears of a winter supply crunch.
Investors shrugged off a surprise increase in the number of new unemployment claims, while cheering a lower-than-expected tally of continuing claims.
The chancellor announced some help for working people in the form of a surprise increase in the amount they can earn before paying any income tax.
We've had a surprise increase over the last couple of weeks in graffiti in the area, so obviously we need to go and get that cleaned up and see what we can do to reduce it.
It dislikes any annual increase in average earnings greater than 4.5% (its inflation target, 2.5%, plus the long-run average growth rate of productivity, 2%); rapid wage growth was a cause of this month's surprise increase in interest rates.The minimum wage is adding to the MPC's worries.
In a separate note, the US Energy Department said there was a surprise increase in US crude stockpiles last week of 1.5m barrels.
They are often unaware of the shortages and may be caught by surprise, increasing the risk of a medical error.
In anticipation of a court order, Mr. Florio increased education financing by springing a surprise tax increase of $2.8 billion on New Jersey voters.
And while many initiatives were scaled back as Congress and the White House sought to cut the overall cost, there were some surprise increases, including a quadrupling of money for high-speed rail projects to $8 billion.
