Ever since WalMart decided to increase its minimum wage and then give all employees a 2% pay raise, it has been forced to slash guidance and move forward with mass layoffs in order to cut costs (it had to offset the multi-billion dollar short-term PR investment somehow). The next phase of the cost cutting efforts will now be to replace workers with drones.
Just as we expected, based on lagged oil prices, the US oil rig count rose this week. The oil rig count rose 9 to 325 - the biggest increase since Dec 2015. This is the second week in a row with no decline in rigs as the market's self-defeating fears of a production resurgence drive oil prices lower on the news.
and the reaction is back to the lows of the day...
Did The OPEC fail spike mark the cycle rebound highs?
Last Friday, stocks soared as Yellen dropped hawkish hints that The Fed would raise rates "because it was appropriate" implying everything is awesome. One week later - following a terrible Fed-narrative-imploding jobs print - Hillary Clinton-donor and Fed member Lael Brainard goes back to full dove-tard:
Goldman just did it again.
In fact, the bank whose FX recommendations have become so notoriously terrible they are on par with those of Dennis Gartman, has absolutely outdone itself this time because less than 24 hours after Goldman said to sell the Yuan, the Chinese currency just had its biggest one day move in over 5 years!
Submitted by Southbay Research
Private Sector hits the pause button. Seasonal Adjustment prevents negative payrolls
The bad parts: It's no longer just an industrial recession