United States

When we discussed last month's JOLTS report - Janet Yellen's favorite labor market indicator - we used one word to describe it: "schizophrenic", because while the BLS reported that job openings in April soared to the highest on record, hiring crashed, confounding not only economists, but also the supervisors of BLS goalseekers who "came up" with the number. Fast forward to today, when moments ago the latest JOLTS report summarized, with its usual 2 month lag, the labor situation in the US.

When Obama announced the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the seizure of Russian diplomatic compounds in Maryland last December, in response to alleged Russian interference in the election, Putin just smiled and said Russia would not retaliate, expecting that relations between Russia and the US would normalize under president Trump.

The U.S. successfully test fired a THAAD anti-ballistic missile system on Tuesday from Alaska that intercepted a target missile launched from an Air Force Cargo plane north of Hawaii, Fox news reported. The drill, which was scheduled in June, comes a week after North Korea successfully test-launched an intermediate, not intercontinental as it previously claimed, range ballistic missile capable of hitting Alaska. This was the 14th consecutive successful test of the THAAD, which has had a perfect record on each of the previous 13 intercepts.

“Silver’s Plunge Is Nearing Completion”

At least 16 people have died after a U.S. military plane crashed in rural Mississippi according to LeFlore County EMA Director Fred Randal. No official details were immediately available on the circumstances of the crash in northern Mississippi's LeFlore County, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Jackson, the state capital according to Reuters.

The US Marine Corps tweeted Monday that “a USMC KC-130 mishap occurred the evening of July 10. Further information will be released as available.”