North America

Back in January, Trump took a very public victory lap when Ford decided to scrap plans to build a $1.6 billion manufacturing facility in Mexico and invest in its Michigan facilities instead (we discussed it here: Trump Takes Victory Lap After Ford Cancels $1.6 Billion Mexican Expansion Plan As "Vote Of Confidence" In President-Elect).

"@DanScavino: Ford to scrap Mexico plant, invest in Michigan due to Trump policies"https://t.co/137nUo03Gl

For the 22nd week in a row, the number of US oil rigs rose (up 6 to 747) to the highest since April 2015.

Given the historical relationship between lagged prices and rig counts, we suspect the resurgence in rigs may begin to stall...

Oil is headed for the longest run of weekly losses since August 2015 as OPEC member Libya restored production and the surplus in the U.S. shows little sign of abating.

In a preview of more pain to come for US, and global, workers, moments ago Nike announced that it will soon be parting ways with approximately 2% of its 70,700 global workforce, or roughly 1,500 employees.

Nike introduced the Consumer Direct Offense, a new company alignment, resulting in leadership and organizational changes as part of which the company would see an overall reduction in about 2% of the company’s global workforce to "streamline and speed up strategic execution."

Authored by Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk via Bawerk.net,

Viruses, violent conflicts and a host of other regional calamities helped revive peoples’ desire to migrate permanently to another country between the years 2013 and 2016 as the number of potential migrants climbed to 710 million, according to a Gallup poll.