“Market fluctuations are your friend, not enemy”
― Warren Buffett

1. US Job Openings Tick Up in Sign of Steady Labor Demand — Available positions ticked up to 7.59 million last month, slightly above the revised April level, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Tuesday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 7.3 million openings. Construction and leisure and hospitality saw the biggest increases in openings. Vacancies in professional and business services, which accounted for almost all of the April rise by sector, were little changed in May. Openings in the financial activities sector, which has become the biggest drag on job growth this year, fell for a second month.
2. U.S. Plunges Trade Pact With Canada and Mexico Into Doubt – The U.S. decision came as no surprise. President Trump has effectively ripped up parts of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that he signed in his first administration, imposing tariffs on a range of goods. He has mused about terminating the agreement altogether. The pact remains in effect, but now the U.S. refusal to renew means American trade representatives will have to meet every year for a decade with Mexican and Canadian officials to continually review the deal. Negotiations can continue in the meantime. The pact underpins nearly $2 trillion in annual trade. Last year, combined U.S. exports to Mexico and Canada surpassed $670 billion, according to U.S. statistics. In comparison, U.S. exports to China last year amounted to about $106 billion.
3. US Hiring Slows Sharply, Curbing Recent Job-Market Momentum — Nonfarm payrolls increased 57,000 last month after downward revisions to the prior two months took some of the shine off recent blockbuster reports, Bureau of Labor Statistics data Thursday showed. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2% as labor force participation plunged. The pullback was led by the biggest decline in leisure and hospitality payrolls since 2020 — “reflecting weaker than usual seasonal hiring,” according to the BLS — following a strong increase in May. Ahead of the report, some economists were expecting the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off last month, to boost payrolls in the sector.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com:

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