The Day at a Glance | June 4 2021

The Top

*Employment figures once again disappointed in the US during May; 559 thousand jobs were created (vs 675 thousand e.).

*G-7 finance ministers held a meeting in London to discuss the minimum corporate tax at a worldwide level; an agreement is expected to be reached in the G-20 in July.

*Consumption records three consecutive months of growth in Japan, even though it remains at moderate levels (0.1% m/m; 13% annual Apr.).

Economic environment

Employment data in the United States once again disappointed and continued to show weakness in the labor market`s recovery. The economy created 559 thousand new jobs in May, figure below the 675 thousand forecasted by the analyst consensus. The volatility in figures in recent months caused a wide range of estimates that went from 300 thousand up to one million. The rate of unemployment fell to 5.8% (or 9.3 million people), with noticeable increases in employment among the industries most affected by the pandemic; leisure, accommodation and education. Other sectors that recorded positive figures were medical services and social assistance. The labor market continues to set at 5.7 million jobs under pre-pandemic levels logged in February of 2020. The participation rate was slightly adjusted to 61.6% and has barely recorded variations since June 2020, which suggests that there is still not a strong urge for the American population to return to the labor market. May`s data suggests that there is still a long way to go regarding the labor market`s total recovery, which justifies the FED`s ultra-accommodative stance the last few months and reinforces the idea that discussions on the withdrawal of stimuli will not occur until 2022 if inflationary pressures are merely temporary.