Business

After weeks of modest declines, the US Oil Rig Count plunged by 31 to 467 this week - the biggest drop since April 2015 led by a 19 drop in Texas. Total rig count crashed 48 to 571. The reaction, though muted, was a jump in crude prices.

• *BAKER HUGHES OIL RIG COUNT FALLS 31 THIS WK TO 467
• *U.S. TOTAL RIG COUNT DOWN 48 TO 571

A big plunge - tracking lagged crude perfectly...

Led by Texas in absolute terms - but every region is accelerating in the last 6 months...

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OffTwoMinds blog,

Once private credit rolls over in China and the U.S., the global recession will start its rapid slide down the Seneca Cliff.

Few question the importance of private credit in the global economy. When households and businesses are borrowing to expand production and buy homes, vehicles, etc., the economy expands smartly.

With faith in "growth" faltering and the momo leaders rolling over...

JPMorgan warns there are still worries for the bears in the intermediate term...

For the SPX overall the ceiling remains clear: since its hard to foresee sustained upside to either ’16 EPS ests (~$120 is best case for the SPX) or the multiple (16x) then any move towards the mid-1900s should still be faded.

Since the US manufacturing sector is unofficially in a recession, and since the US service sector is allegedly growing like gangbusters, we are updating our favorite chart showing the bifurcation in the New Abnormal US economy: the job gains by U.S. manufacturing workers on one hand, and by waiters and bartenders on the other.

Here is the cumulative job gains for manufacturers vs waiters and bartenders in the past 12 months...

... and since December 2007.

May the minimum wage waiter and bartender recovery live long and continue to prosper.

It would seem that the pharmaceutical industry was preparing for the Zika virus almost a year ago as two vaccines have reportedly been developed already in India. Bharat Biotech  International in Hyderabad, India was the first company to file a patent for a Zika vaccine and they are about to start pre-clinical testing. “On Zika, we are probably the first vaccine company in the world to file a vaccine candidate patent about nine months ago,” managing director Krishna Ella said in an interview.