Financial markets will be paying close attention to U.S. President Barack Obama’s plan aimed at injecting some life into the struggling American economy.
Obama will table his plans tonight in a speech to a joint congress scheduled for 7 p.m.
He will present a plan to create jobs in the hopes of trimming the country’s 9.1 per cent unemployment rate.
Obama is likely to offer a $300 billion package of ideas that includes tax relief, unemployment insurance and spending to support construction jobs.
The plan must be approved by congress. Republicans, who control the house, vehemently oppose tax increases and new spending.
Federal Reserve Board chair Ben Bernanke is pressing congress to spend the next year or two focusing on job growth, and worry about cutting spending later.