Flash Notes

The US economy added a disappointing 138,000 jobs in May, lower than Bloomberg consensus forecast of 182,000 andcoming in well below this week’s ADP which was above expectations at 253,000. The April NFP was revised lower to +174,000(from previous estimate of 211,000) while the Mar NFP was also revised lower to 50,000 (from previous estimate of +79,000). Thus,Mar & Apr 2017 NFP on aggregate were revised lower by 66,000. Still, the May numbers continued to show the US economyadding jobs every month since Oct 2010 (more than 15 million jobs in the current cycle so far) but seems to be missing the mark ofexcellence and may be an indication of employers’ difficulty in finding suitable labor in a tight market. The latest Beige book report(30 May) continued to show improving US economic activity and strong US hiring sentiments as most districts cited workershortages across occupations and region, even as employment and wages continued to grow at a modest to moderate pace.