The U.S. labor market just sent its weakest signal in months.
June payrolls rose by only 57,000, well below expectations of 115,000 and down sharply from May's revised 129,000. At first glance, the unemployment rate improved to 4.2%. But the headline masks growing weakness. The labor force participation rate fell to 61.5%, its lowest level since March 2021, while household employment plunged by 507,000 people in a single month. Wage growth remained resilient, with average hourly earnings rising 0.3% month-over-month and 3.5% year-over-year, suggesting inflationary pressures have not fully disappeared. Under the surface, the picture is mixed: 📈 Professional & business services: +36K 📈 Social assistance: +25K 📈 Healthcare: +22K 📈 Government: +8K But leisure & hospitality LOST 61,000 jobs 🚨, despite expectations that the World Cup would boost seasonal hiring. The labor market is no longer collapsing. But it is clearly cooling. For the Fed, this report strengthens the case that growth is slowing, even if wage pressures remain sticky. Source: CNBC
BREAKING: The US government has lifted export restrictions on Anthropic's Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models.
The restrictions, imposed on June 12 over national security concerns, have now been fully removed after Anthropic agreed to strengthen safeguards and coordinate with the US government on AI security. Anthropic said it expects to restore user access starting Wednesday. Source: Bull Theory
About AC in Europe...
Source. Rand
The US equity market is recording massive inflows
Source: EPFR, Goldman
The end of US exceptionalism? really?
Source: Goldman, EPFR
In case you missed it...Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology were sued on June 25 in federal court over allegations of collusion and price-fixing in the commodity memory market.
Filed in the Northern District of California, the complaint names 17 plaintiffs — a mix of individuals and small businesses — who claim the three chipmakers conspired to keep commodity DRAM artificially scarce in order to inflate prices, according to Wccftech Source. Yahoo Finance
Hedge funds are abandoning US tech stocks at the fastest pace in over a decade:
The Technology, Media, and Telecom sector has seen the largest and most sustained outflows of any US sector in 2026. The net selling accelerated sharply in June to nearly -3% of total US gross market value, according to Goldman Sachs. Last week, hedge funds sold the most US Information Technology stocks in more than 10 years, in both dollar and percentage terms. This was driven by long and short sales at a ratio of roughly 1.3 to 1. Semiconductors and semiconductor equipment accounted for more than half of the total tech sales, having now been net sold for 8 consecutive sessions. Hedge funds are running to the exit in US tech. Source: Global Markets Investor, Goldman Sachs
The US dollar has OUTPACED every G10 currency this month.
Source: Steve Hanke @steve_hanke
