Labor

The last great hope indicator of the bullish narrative appears to have broken as today's initial jobless claims soars 20k to 294k - the highest since Feb 2015. Seemingly confirming the dismal payroll print, one can only wonder how long before this catches 'down' to the weakness in PMI/ISM survey employment data and the hard macro data. The last 3 weeks have seen initial claims soar by the most since 2005...

This is the first time claims have risen YoY since Nov 2012...

Catch 'up' time...

Submitted by Matthew Bankert via The Mises Institute,

When was the last time you used a government “service”? Maybe you went to the DMV to get a new driver’s license, or maybe you signed up for new healthcare plan using Healthcare.gov (you’d better — or else!). Whatever transaction it was, there was a government employee on the other end — or as some like to call them, a public servant. 

A 25-year-old woman from Hyderabad, India, was allegedly tortured to death while working as a maid against her will in Saudi Arabia. Her Saudi employers kept her working as a maid illegally after her visa expired and against her wishes while allegedly torturing her physically and mentally. dna India reports: The family members of Asima Khatoon were informed about the death on Thursday when an unknown person called her mother from Riyadh and informed that Asima was no more.

Submitted by Mish Shedlock of MishTalk

Greece Shut Down By Protests And Strikes Over Pensions; Emergency Eurogroup Meeting Monday

In protest of still more pension cuts, Greek unions started a 3-day strike on Friday that has shut down much of the country.

The Greek parliament holds a pension reform vote on Monday. The vote is expected to pass but perhaps barely. Syriza has a slim three seat majority in the 300-seat Greek parliament.

UPS, and roughly 270,000 retired truck drivers, construction workers, and other service workers can breathe a collective sigh of relief... for now. As we previously reported, the Central States Pension Fund had submitted a plan to Treasury that if approved would have cut member benefits, and triggered UPS to take an estimated $3.8 billion charge.