1 Slowdown in US job creation (BBC) US job creation
in May fell to its lowest level in more than five years, a sign of economic
weakness that may limit the Federal Reserve's ability to raise interest rates
soon.
The Labor Department said that employers added just
38,000 jobs last month, the fewest since September 2010. The jobless rate fell
to 4.7% from 5%, the lowest since November 2007. But this was partly due to
people dropping out of the labour force and no longer being counted as
unemployed.
The government said a month-long Verizon strike had
depressed employment growth by 34,000 jobs. The strikers would have been
considered unemployed and counted in the figures. But even without the Verizon
strike, non-farm payrolls would have increased by just 72,000.
2 Uber drives into delivery business (Rob Davies in
The Guardian) Uber is recruiting an army of delivery drivers as it prepares to
go to war with Deliveroo for a slice of the UK’s takeaway food market. The
taxi-hailing app confirmed it was finalising plans to roll out its UberEATS
service in the UK as it looks for ways to build on the success of its
fast-growing service.
Uber is offering a £100 signing-on fee to delivery
partners, its term for bicycle and scooter drivers joining its fleet, though it
is looking for drivers only in London at the moment. UberEATS is available in
the US, but the UK launch will pit the firm against Deliveroo, which has grown
rapidly with its model of paying drivers small sums to collect food from
restaurants that do not have a delivery service.
Uber’s plans to expand its food delivery service to
the UK come as it prepares to launch its first major British advertising
campaign. The campaign, Get there with Uber, will seek to woo customers and
drivers by suggesting that the income from working for the company could help
them start their own business.
Uber’s phenomenal growth has sparked opposition from
traditional taxi services, leading to major protests and bans on the service in
some European cities. But the European commission warned member states not to
crack down on the so-called sharing economy, urging them to ban services such
as Uber as a “last resort”.
3 For S&P, Indonesia stays junk (Straits Times) Indonesia's
long wait to win full investment-grade rank just got longer after S&P
Global Ratings maintained its junk status because of weak fiscal performance. S&P
affirmed the country's BB+ rating on Wednesday, while leaving the door open for
a future upgrade by maintaining a positive outlook.
It cited forecasts for larger budget deficits in
coming years and a decline in corporate credit quality. Fitch Ratings and
Moody's Investors Service awarded Indonesia investment-grade status more than
four years ago.
The failure to win to full investment-grade status
may take the shine off Asia's best-performing bond market, with the nation's
local currency notes gaining about 10 per cent this year, according to indexes
compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P report comes as government revenues fall
short of targets because of weak tax collection and low commodity prices.
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