Bloomberg
“U.S. Payrolls Rise 223,000; Jobless Rate Matches 48-Year Low.”
U.S. hiring rose more than forecast in May, wages picked up and the unemployment rate matched the lowest in almost five decades, indicating the strong labor market will keep powering economic growth.
Payrolls increased 223,000 following a revised 159,000 gain, Labor Department figures showed Friday. The median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg called for 190,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings increased 2.7 percent from a year earlier, more than projected, while the jobless rate fell to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent to match April 2000 as the lowest since 1969.
Stocks and Treasury yields rose. The report reinforced expectations for Federal Reserve policy makers to raise interest rates when they meet June 12-13, and spurred investors to increase bets on two more hikes this year after that, rather than one. Steady hiring and lower taxes will bolster consumer spending, helping to support the projected rebound in U.S. growth this quarter and continuing to trim the unemployment rate. Wage gains, while positive in the latest report, have yet to show a sustained acceleration.
Markets have returned to pricing at least three Fed interest-rate increases for the full year after political turmoil in Italy trimmed expectations earlier this week. While chances of a fourth rate hike this year remain low, the strong jobs report added a few basis points into the pricing.
The jobless rate fell further below Fed estimates of levels sustainable in the long run, a potential source of upward pressure on wages and inflation, according to some economists. The fiscal boost from the Republican-backed tax cuts may also boost inflation at a time when the economy is near full employment, while a protracted trade war, sparked by Trump administration tariffs, would pose a growth risk.
Revisions to prior reports added a total of 15,000 jobs to payrolls in the previous two months, according to the figures, resulting in a three-month average of 179,000 — and a 2018 average of 203,000.
Economists estimate that monthly payroll gains of about 100,000 or less are sufficient to keep pushing down the unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate Labor Department survey of households and is near levels considered consistent with at or below full employment.
Reuters
“Italy’s Conte sworn in as PM of anti-establishment government.”
Italy’s president swore in Giuseppe Conte on Friday as prime minister of Western Europe’s first anti-establishment government whose aim is to cut taxes, boost welfare spending and overhaul European Union rules on budgets and immigration.
Conte, a 53-year-old law professor, must now win confidence votes in parliament next week. The parties backing Conte — the far-right League and the radical 5-Star Movement — have solid majorities in both houses.
BBC News
“Mariano Rajoy: Spanish PM forced out of office.”
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been forced out of office by a no-confidence vote in parliament. Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, who filed the motion after Mr Rajoy’s party was implicated in a corruption scandal, will become prime minister. «We’re going to sign a new page in the history of democracy in our country,» Mr Sánchez said ahead of Friday’s vote.
Mr Rajoy is the first prime minister in modern Spanish history to be defeated in a no-confidence motion. The leader of the conservative Popular Party (PP) has been prime minister since 2011.
During the second day of debate on Friday, Mr Rajoy admitted facing defeat and told MPs that it has been «an honour to leave a better Spain than I found». Mr Sánchez secured a majority in the vote after gaining support from various smaller parties, including the Basque Nationalist Party – 180 MPs backed the motion, 169 voted against, with one abstention.
Mr Sánchez says Mr Rajoy, 63, had failed to take responsibility for his party’s involvement in the scandal, which hit the headlines again last week after one of its former treasurers was given a 33-year jail sentence. The High Court in Madrid convicted Luis Bárcenas of receiving bribes, money laundering and tax crimes. The case centred on a secret campaign fund which the PP ran from 1999 until 2005.
Many Spanish voters, exasperated by corruption scandals involving the traditional centre-right PP and centre-left Socialist parties, have abandoned them for newcomers like the left-wing Podemos (We Can) and pro-market Ciudadanos (Citizens), as well as regional parties.
Bloomberg
“The Bad Days Have Been Really Bad in 2018’s Stock Market.”
After more than a year of trying to make nice, Justin Trudeau finally looks fed up with Donald Trump.
Canada had pushed for an exemption from Trump’s tariffs — thinking, now naively, there’d be a perk to being a neighbor, ally and largest buyer of U.S. goods. Trudeau had bitten his tongue through skirmishes over airplanes, lumber and North American Free Trade Agreement talks.
That all changed Thursday when Canada, along with Mexico and the European Union, lost exemptions to the U.S. metal tariffs.
Trudeau tore into the Trump administration, if only by the standards of stereotypical Canadian politeness. He fired back with tariffs on U.S. exports of everything from whisky to motorboats to orange juice. He said the legal basis of tariffs — U.S. national security — was an affront to Canadian soldiers who died fighting alongside Americans in numerous global battles.
“Let me be clear: These tariffs are totally unacceptable,” a visibly frustrated Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa, calling the measures inconceivable and deplorable. “This is not about the American people. We have to believe that at some point their common sense will prevail, but we see no sign of that in this action today.»
It’s a tone change for the “sunny ways” Trudeau. Canada is a close U.S. military ally and the top U.S. export market, more than the U.K., Japan and Germany combined. It sells the U.S. more steel and aluminum than anyone else, in part because of deeply integrated auto and defense sectors. Trudeau cracked down on Chinese steel imports for Trump, and U.S. data show that it has a trade surplus with Canada. None of it mattered.