10 Things You Need to Know: June 9, 2026
Key data releases this week include: NFIB Small Business Optimism (Tue), trade balance (Tue), existing home sales (Tue), CPI (Wed), PPI (Thu), and consumer sentiment (Fri).
Bloomberg
June 1, 2026
The ISM Manufacturing PMI surprised to the upside, rising to 54.0 in May — a four-year high — from 52.7 in April. New orders drove the headline index higher. The orders sub-gauge rose to 56.8 in May from 54.1. Other demand-side factors were similarly strong: The backlog of orders accelerated, new orders for export increased and customer inventories remained far too low.
Haver
June 2, 2026
Total job openings jumped 10.6% m/m (7.3% y/y) to 7.618 million in April, the highest level since May 2024, from an upwardly revised 6.887 million in March. While both the number of job openings and the number of unemployed both rose, the number of openings rose much more, leaving the number of openings above the number of unemployed for the first time in ten months, another sign that previously observed softening of labor market conditions may be stabilizing.
Bloomberg
June 3, 2026
US service-sector activity picked up in May, even as businesses faced the fastest growth in input costs in nearly four years. The ISM Services Index rose to a three-month high of 54.5. Gauges for new orders and business activity both increased, signaling resilient consumer demand
Haver
June 5, 2026
Nonfarm payrolls rose 172k in May, noticeably stronger than the expectation of 92k shown in the Action Economics survey. Moreover, results for the prior two months were revised higher by 93k. The unemployment rate was 4.3%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% (3.4% y/y) in May.
Barron’s
June 8, 2026
A newly issued report by the Government Accountability Office ought to quell concerns about the quality of employment data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which assembles the monthly jobs report. The GAO report found that the integrity of the data is intact. However, the report cited future risks to data quality due to declining survey response rates.
TS Lombard/ Barron’s
June 8, 2026
“What we are seeing in the AI ecosystem is still largely the result of revenue recycling and circular demand dynamics. True sustainability cannot come from the hyperscalers pumping ever-increasing amounts of cash into the system. It must come from external sources, particularly consumers and businesses that are willing to pay for genuine AI-driven productivity improvements. As things stand, that isn’t what is happening.”
Reuters
June 3, 2026
The US has proposed new tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on imports from 60 economies, arguing their efforts to curb goods made with forced labor are insufficient and disadvantage US workers. The measures, introduced under a Section 301 trade investigation, would add pressure on trading partners while exempting products such as energy, rare earths, and pharmaceuticals.
Politico
June 4, 2026
The US could reach its $41.1 trillion debt limit between late winter and midsummer of 2027, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, which says the Treasury Department would likely use “extraordinary measures” to prevent a default for six to nine months. The projection comes after the debt ceiling was raised by $5 trillion last year.
WSJ
June 4, 2026
Anthropic is calling for top AI labs to weigh slowing the pace of development, suggesting that systems are advancing so rapidly they may soon be able to improve themselves without human intervention in ways that could pose societal risks. So-called ‘recursive self-improvement’ hasn’t yet happened and isn’t inevitable but could come sooner than many institutions are prepared for.”