The US Labor Market Conditions Index slumped to a seven-year low in May, the Federal Reserve reported on Monday. The central bank’s measure of the labor market, which tracks 19 indicators, has been in negative territory for five months straight. As MarketWatch points out, the last time the index performed so poorly was in the last recession.
The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index was also weak in yesterday’s update. “The Employment Trends Index decreased in May. Its continued weakness suggests that job growth will remain modest in the coming months,” says Gad Levanon, the Conference Board’s chief economist, North America.
Fed Chair on Monday said she continues to expect that the central bank will raise interest rates in the near future, but declined to elaborate on the timing. “I see good reasons to expect that the positive forces supporting employment growth and higher inflation will continue to outweigh the negative ones,” Janet Yellen advised.
Gallup’s polling shows that US consumer spending in May was “healthy.”
Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday, based on CNN’s analysis of delegate and superdelegate counts.
Eurozone GDP growth in the first quarter was revised up slightly to a 0.6% quarter-over-quarter pace vs. a 0.5% rise in the previous estimate.