Month: May 2014

The earlier Ukraine “anti-terrorist” operation in Solvyansk has resulted in the death of at least 2 servicemen and now tensions are roiling in Odessa as the Ukraine government tries to live up to the IMF’s demands or “fight or no money”. Violent clashes have broken out at a pro-Ukraine rally in Odessa and at least one person is dead. As the live feed below shows, things are getting out of control fast. Ukraine’s acting president adds:

• *TURCHYNOV SAYS OPERATION PROGRESSING SLOWER THAN GOVT WANTED
• *TURCHYNOV URGES SEPARATISTS TO LAY DOWN WEAPONS AND SURRENDER
• *UKRAINE REBELS HIDING BEHIND HOSTAGES, CIVILIANS: TURCHYNOV

Ukrainian authorities have also banned Russian air companies from making flights to the eastern Ukrainian cities; and, perhaps ironically to some, Russia has called for an emergency UN meeting to discuss Ukraine’s actions.

 

The initial operation started in Solvyansk…

• UKRAINE’S ACTING PRESIDENT SAYS OPERATION IN EASTERN TOWN OF SLAVIANSK WAS COMPLICATED BY THE USE OF HUMAN SHIELDS, DID NOT PROGRESS AS QUICKLY AS HOPED FOR
• UKRAINE’S ACTING PRESIDENT SAYS OPERATION IN SLAVIANSK CONTINUES, CALLS ON PRO-RUSSIAN SEPARATISTS TO LAY DOWN ARMS, FREE HOSTAGES
• *SLOVYANSK REBELS SUFFERED `SIGNIFICANT’ LOSSES: TURCHYNOV

 

Then they moved to Odessa:

• *CLASHES BREAK OUT AT PRO-UKRAINIAN RALLY IN ODESSA
• *ONE PERSON DEAD IN ODESSA CLASHES, HROMADSKE TV REPORTS

“There are at least 10 injured, have shrapnel wounds, there is a traumatic injury from a weapon. At the moment, both sides are building barricades in different areas of the city center, some of the streets has captured one side, some – other “

According to local media, the site of the collision are fifteen hundred aggressive young people, many of whom are armed. Gathered chanting: “Glory to Ukraine!”, “Death to the enemies”, “Moskal knives.” In the course went firecrackers, smoke grenades, batons. Fighting used stones from the dismantled bridge, there were “Molotov cocktails”. People continue to arrive.

With Molotov Cocktails flying…

And mass brawls:

 

Live Feed:

Live streaming video by Ustream

 

And in case you werew wondering where the anti-terror operation will do next.. here is a threat assessment map of the south and east…

 

Russia has called for an emergency UN meeting:

• *UN SECURITY COUNCIL UKRAINE MTG MAY HAPPEN LATER TODAY: GRANT
• *UN SECURITY COUNCIL NOW DISCUSSING UKRAINE MEET TIMING: GRANT

 

As Ukraine bans Russian flights:

Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency stated on Friday that Ukranian aviation authorities have unilaterally banned Russian air companies from making flights to the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Kharkiv starting from today, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reports.

 

Russia’s claimed that this ban was unprecedented violantion of international air traffic agreements, but said Moscow would not respond with similar measures

via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/PXwt8X Tyler Durden

While we expect much media coverage of the fact that as of the end of April, total jobs have risen to 138,252K or just 98,000 jobs shy of the December 2007 highs when the depression started (which means that the next jobs report will finally show a full recovery of the jobs lost in the past 6 years), another fact which will not receive nearly as much attention is that the cumulative increase in Americans who have, over the same period, dropped out of the labor force has more than “made up” for the job gains. In fact, it may come as a surprise to most, that since the peak of the depression in February 2010, when the job number dropped to 129.7 million and has been rising ever since, the average monthly number of job adds is 172K.

And what about the average monthly number of people who drop out of the labor force since February 2010? 175K, or a virtually perfect mirror image.

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Statement from JEC Vice Chair Klobuchar on April 2014 Employment Report

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Vice Chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ April 2014 jobs report showing that 288,000 total nonfarm jobs were added and the unemployment fell from 6.7% to 6.3%:

“After a long hard winter it is good news that the employment numbers are picking up.

 

To hit the lowest unemployment rate in five and a half years is a positive sign as we move into the summer season that should bring more construction and tourism jobs.

 

Many American families are still struggling with high costs of housing, childcare and college and we need to continue our work to give them a fair shot.”

Where are the banners proclaiming Mission Accomplished?

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Yesterday it was construction spending that took the positive shine off a measly Q1 GDP print and today it is New Factory Orders. A mere 1.1% gain MoM, missing expectations of a 1.5% bounce (and down from a 1.5% rise in February) suggest anything but a post-weather bounce in the economy. This is the 4th miss in the last 5 months and missed even with a huge spike in defense spending (+21.5%). Who will be first to lower Q1 GDP final expectations today?

 

 

Of course, this is all in the past and so can be ignored in favor of hope… but wait – isn’t the jobs data also from the past and yet we are happy to extrapolate that into Utopia?

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Taking another peek beneath the only headline that vacuum tubes and algos care about, namely the headline establishment survey print, reveals another mockery of a “recovery”, because in addition to the farce that 1 million Americans were added to the “not in labor force” number, a breakdown of jobs added by age group reveals more of the same. Namely, in the one most important age group for jobs, those workers aged 25-54 which represent the bulk of the US labor force and are also the best and most productive group, the total number of jobs tumbled from 95,360 to 95,151, a drop of 209K!

But wait, because it wasn’t just the most important age group bucket: it was all younger workers who got the shaft: jobs in the 16-19 age group dropped by 24K, while those in the 20-24 age group declined by another 26K. Wait, so did anyone gain jobs in April? Why yes: according to the establishment survey, the only beneficiary of whatever this “recovery” is, were workers aged 55-69, who gained 174K jobs.

In fact, while the total number of jobs lost since the great depression may have been recovered, looking at this data set broken down by age groups reveals something very different: a recovery which continues to favor the old, those 55 and older, at the expense of the young, or those below 55, who still have 2.8 million jobs to go before recouping losses.

Source: BLS

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While not nearly as horrific as recent months, in which the vast majority of job additions were relegated to the worst paying sectors possible, the month of April did see a pick up across virtually all industries (except for one of the best paying fields of course, Information), however four of the top six industries that saw job pick ups were once again in the lowest paying fields: Education and Health, Retail Trade, Temp Help and Leisure and Hospitality. The two best paying fields: Financial Services and Information saw a combined 3K jobs added between them.

The full breakdown of jobs added by industry in April and March (revised):

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