Markit

• Jackson Hole Theme: Labor Markets Can’t Take Higher Rates (BBG), or anything else for that matter
• Kidnappers free American missing in Syria since 2012 (Reuters)
• More unpatriots: Burger King in merger talks with Canada's Tim Hortons (Reuters)
• California Quake to Cost Insurers Up to $1 Billion, Eqecat Says (BBG)
• Congo declares Ebola outbreak in northern Equateur province (Reuters)
• Missouri Governor Defends Ferguson Prosecutor (BBG)
• Kuroda Douses Japan Stimulus Expectations (WSJ)
• London Jihadi Call Vies With Banks in Canary Wharf Shadow (BBG)
• Netanyahu Signals Expansion of Air Attacks in Gaza (WSJ)
• Libya's Islamist Militias Claim Control of Tripoli (WSJ)

It's been one of those days. First, the CME broke for 4 hours due to what some suggested were HFT connectivity issues, then Russia announced it would send a second humanitarian convoy into Ukraine (a big risk off move the first time it was announced, now not even an algo stirred), then Germany reported that the IFO Business Confidence/Climate dropped for the fourth consecutive month to 106.3 from 108.0, below the 107.0 expected, with the IFO chief economist stating that German GDP expectations are likely to be cut to 1.5% from 2.0% later in the year, and finally the French government collapsed due to disagreement over policy between finance minister Valls and economy minister Montebourg. All in all, a typical day in Europe's slow-motion implosion. So why are Spanish and Italian bank stocks soaring and European bond yields reaching new record highs? Simple: following Draghi's speech on Friday at Jackson Hole, which at initial read was hardly as dovish as many had expected, the FT and various other media outlets promptly changed the narrative and made it seem as if the ECB head was about to unleash QE.

While today's key events were supposed to be the Jackson speeches first by Janet Yellen at 10:00am Eastern and then by Mario Draghi at 2:30 pm, Ukraine quickly managed to steal the spotlight yet again when moments after the first Russian humanitarian aid convoys entered Ukraine allegedly without permission, Kiev first accused Russia of staging a direct invasion, even if moments later it changed its tune and said it had allowed the convoy in to "avoid provocations." In other words, your daily dose of Ukraine disinformation, which initially managed to push futures down some 0.3% before futs regained virtually all losses on the subsequent clarifications. Expect much more conflicting, confusing and very provocative headlines out of Kiev as the local government and the CIA try to get their story straight.

Following July's drop in US Manufacturing PMI (and biggest miss in 11 months), August's Flash print hit 58.0 - its highest since April 2010, beating expectations of 55.7 and up from the 55.8 July final print. With China (biggest PMI miss on record) and Europe (13-month low PMI) both disappointing, the world needed some help and the US 'soft' survey offered it up in spades... Production levels surged, employment rose at the fastest pace since March 2013, and new orders picked up once again. This was the biggest beat on record - well above even the highest economist's estimate. Mission Accomplished...

We are sure this will end well... As CDS-based credit ETFs are launched, so the number of ways to 'sell' volatility (buy complacency) for retail equity investors have exploded in recent years as The Fed's stranglehold on uncertainty has continued. However, as Bloomberg reports, as VIX has tumbled in the last few weeks, investors are wagering on further declines - in the five weeks through Aug. 15, they put almost $320 million into the VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short Term ETN (XIV): the longest stretch of weekly investments since the note began trading in 2010.

With the FOMC Minutes in the books, the only remaining major event for the week is the Jackson Hole conference, where Yellen is now expected to talk back any Hawkish aftertaste left from the Minutes, and which starts today but no speeches are due until tomorrow. And while the Minutes were generally seen as hawkish, stocks continue to levitate, blissfully oblivious what tighter monetary conditions would mean to an asset bubble, which according to many, is now the biggest in history. And speaking of equities, US futures climbed to a fresh record high overnight on just the right mix of bad news.

• Police fire tear gas, stun grenades at Missouri protesters (Reuters)
• Putin’s Pipeline Bypassing Ukraine at Risk Amid Conflict (BBG)
• Russia's Largest Oil Company Seeks $42 billion to Weather Sanctions (WSJ)
• Shells hit central Donetsk, Russian aid convoy heads towards border (Reuters)
• U.S. Tightens Sanctions, Putting More Russian Companies at Risk (BBG)
• How to Blindly Score 43% Profit Overnight in China Stocks (BBG)
• Tears guaranteed: San Diego Pension Dials Up the Risk to Combat a Shortfall (WSJ)
• Euro Recovery Halts as Germany Shrinks, France Stagnates (BBG)
• Billionaire Found in Middle of Bribery Case Avoids U.S. Probe (BBG)
• Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama 'Hug It Out' on Martha's Vineyard (WSJ)

The hammer finally hit for Europe when overnight both Germany and France reported Q2 GDP prints that missed expectations, the first actually contracting at a 0.2% rate with consensus looking for -0.1%, while France remained flat vs expectations for a tiny 0.1% rise. As a reminder, this GDP is the revised one, which already includes the estimated contribution of drugs and prostitution, suggesting the actual underlying economic growth is far worse than even reported. Then again, this is hardly surprising considering all the abysmal data out of Europe and the rest of the world in recent weeks, and with the Russian trade war sure to trim even more growth, look for all of Europe to join Italy in its first upcoming triple-dip recession in history.

US Services PMI fell from June's 61.0 level to 60.8 (slightly below the flash print of 61.0 suggesting modest weakness in the latter end of the month) ending a two-month streak of post-weather exuberance as new orders and jobs data slowed, and Markit warns "growth may have peaked." Factory Orders rose 1.1% for the biggest beat in 9 months. ISM Services smashed expectations and surged to Nov 2005 highs (from 4-year lows just 4 months ago - volatile?) with most sub-indices improving except new export orders fell to 4-month lows.

• Second Ebola patient to arrive in U.S. on Tuesday (Reuters)
• Ebola Drug Made From Tobacco Plant Saves U.S. Aid Workers (BBG)
• Egypt plans to dig new Suez Canal costing $4 billion (Reuters)
• Apple Buybacks Pay Most Ever as CEOs Spend $211 Billion (BBG)
• DeMark Says Sell China Stocks Now After World’s Best Gain (BBG)
• Investors Stung by Losses After Exiting Struggling Property Fund in China (WSJ)
• B.A. in BTFD: MIT May Consider Granting Degrees in Less Than Four Years (BBG)
• Too late, money's already been spent: GPIF Needs Overhaul Before Asset Changes, Shiozaki Says (BBG)
• Oh look, another "truce": Israel withdraws troops, 72-hour Gaza truce begins (Reuters)

It is unclear how much of this morning's momentum-busting weakness in futures is the result of China's horrendous Service PMI, which as we reported last night dropped to the lowest print on record at the contraction borderline, but whatever low volume levitation was launched by the market after Europe's close yesterday may have fizzled out if only until Europe close (there is no POMO today). Still, futures may have been helped by yet another batch of worse than expected European data, namely the final Eurozone PMI prints, which in turn sent the EURUSD to day lows and the offsetting carry favorite USDJPY to highs, helping offset futures weakness. Because in the New Normal there is nothing like a little bad macro data to goose the BTFATH algos...

At this point these soft-survery-based PMIs are becoming a running joke. Japanese macro surprise data has done nothing (and we mean nothing) but disappoint recently and currently stands at 3-month lows. So it makes perfect sense that July Japan Services PMI would print its first expansion since March. On the other hand, after exploding to 18-month highs in June, China Services PMI collapsed to a 2005 record low. As BofA warned previously, it is important to understand how crude these surveys are - these data get way too much air time. They give a timely, rough read on the economy, but should get little weight once hard data are released.

Unlike last week's economic report deluge, this week has virtually no A-grade updates of note, with the key events being Factory Orders (exp. 0.6%), ISM non-mfg (exp. 56.5), Trade balance (Exp. -$44.9 bn), Unit Labor Costs (1.2%) and Wholesale Inventories (0.7%).

• As we predicted yesterday, the "big" Gaza ceasefire lasted all of a few hours (Reuters)
• To Lift Sales, G.M. Turns to Discounts (NYT)
• Espirito Santo Family’s Swift Fall From Grace Jolts Portugal (BBG)
• Argentine Debt Feud Finds Much Fault, Few Fixes (WSJ)
• Fiat Says Ciao to Italy as Merger With Chrysler Ends Era (BBG)
• Euro zone factory growth eases in July as inflation fades away (Reuters)
• CIA concedes it spied on U.S. Senate investigators, apologizes (Reuters)
• Ukraine Reports Losses After Pro-Russian Ambush Near Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 Crash Area (WSJ)
• U.S. says India refusal on WTO deal a wrong signal (Reuters)
• Why Putin Has 2006 Flash Before His Eyes After Sanctions (BBG)

If yesterday's selloff catalysts were largely obvious, if long overdue, in the form of the record collapse of Espirito Santo coupled with the Argentina default, German companies warning vocally about Russian exposure, the ongoing geopolitical escalations, and topped off by a labor costs rising and concerns this can accelerate a hiking cycle, overnight's latest dump, which started in Europe and has carried over into US futures is less easily explained although yet another weak European PMI print across the board probably didn't help. However, one can hardly blame largely unreliable "soft data" for what is rapidly becoming the biggest selloff in months and in reality what the market may be worried about is today's payroll number, due out in 90 minutes, which could lead to big Treasury jitters if it comes above the 230K expected: in fact, today is one of those days when horrible news would surely be great news for the momentum algos.  Still, with futures down 0.6% at last check, it is worth noting that Treasurys are barely changed, as the great unrotation from stocks into bonds picks up and hence the great irony of any rate initiated sell off: should rates spike on growth/inflation concern, the concurrent equity selloff will once again push rates lower, and so on ad inf. Ain't central planning grand?