Cue the latest economic (and Phillips curve) paradox.
On one hand, the US unemployment rate is at a 16 year low of 4.4%, suggesting little if any slack in the US economy, and according to anecdotes from both the Fed's Beige Book and industry sources, labor shortages are so acute that - if one believes the recently discussed report from the NAHB - up to 75% of builders are unable to find construction workers.
With much of the US undergoing a broad revulsion against Confederate statues in the days since the Charlotesville clashes, it was only a matter of time before someone took matters one step too far. This happened today when a Houston man was arrested on allegations he tried to plant explosives at the statue of Confederate officer Richard Dowling in Hermann Park, according to Chron.com citing law enforcement officials.
Absent any major geopolitical shocks, it is set to be a quiet summer week ahead with focus on the Jackson Hole conference. On the data front the key releases will be US durable goods and Eurozone PMIs, as well as Japan inflation & UK and Norway GDP. In Emerging Markets, there are monetary policy meetings in Indonesia, Hungary and Kazakhstan.
Trump and American History Have Been Assassinated
Paul Craig Roberts
When Trump was elected I wrote that it was unlikely that he would be successful in accomplishing the three objectives for which he was elected—peace with Russia, the return home of offshored US jobs, and effective limits on non-white immigration—because these objectives conflicted with the interests of those more powerful than the president.