Archive - Jun 5, 2014 - Story

Did it snow again in May? It seems the hopes for a pent-up demand-based bounce post the weather doldrums has once again been dashed by the hard data. Challenger, Gray, & Christmas just announced that job cuts soared by 45.5% year-over-year in May, the biggest annual rise in 9 months. However, what is perhaps even more worrisome is the actual number of layoffs, around 53,000, was the highest since February 2013. The layoffs in the South are a disaster, aside from the BP oil spill in Sept 2011, this is the most job cuts since Jan 2010. What no seasonal adjustments?

• Inside the White House's decision to free Bergdahl (Reuters)
• Dimon’s Raise Haunts BNP Paribas as U.S. Weighs $10 Billion Fine (BBG)
• Jobs Are on the Line as Banks' Revenue Slides (WSJ)
• Wall Street Adjusts to the New Trading Normal (WSJ)
• Nothing like objective, intense probes: GM recall probe to clear senior execs, finds no concerted coverup (Reuters)
• ECB ready to cut rates and push banks into lending to boost euro zone economy (Reuters)
• China Should Resist Further Stimulus, IMF Says (BBG)
• Carney Finds Ally in Draghi as Key Rate Kept at 0.5% (BBG)
• Assad wins Syria election with 88.7 percent of votes (Reuters)

In today's abnormally quiet overnight session one could hear a pin, or the USDJPY, drop: with everyone focusing on the ECB announcement in one hour, not a single algo is willing to make any big moves, or even start some momentum ignition, ahead of Draghi's announcement, which absent launching full scale QE, which it won't, will be a disappointment which means the EUR will ultimatly move higher after a kneejerk lower as the market forces Super Mario to do even more next time. As Bloomberg adds, a cut in refi and deposit rates is fully priced in and latest price action suggests investors brace for     disappointment if ECB stops short of signaling asset purchases or other liquidity measures to combat deflation.