Unemployment Rate, Five Years Into The "Recovery," Ticks Up -- August 1, 2014; Oil & Gas M & A Spikes

I track "jobs" here. The Obama "recovery" hits its stride and that's the problem. Remember: 30-hour workweeks; fifty employee-threshold; new rules prevent businesses from cost-shifting ObamaCare. Overhearing low-wage employees at any number of retail stores (grocery, bookstores, coffee shops, fast food restaurants), one common theme: not enough hours -- the 30-hour rule is a killer.

Prior to the current administration, the rule of thumb was that a reading of 200,000 or less, new jobs, in any given month was a sign of economic stagnation. Sometime in the last few years the number was changed to 125,000. Regardless, I stick with the 200,000 figure.

Today's report: US job growth cool, unemployment rates rises to 6.2 percent. Reuters is reporting:
U.S. job growth slowed in July and an unexpected rise in the unemployment rate pointed to some slack in the labor market that could give the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low for a while.
Not much spin in that article. There w simply wasn't anything to say: five years into the recovery and the unemployment rate ticks back up. Nonfarm payrolls increasing by 209,000 jobs is tepid, tepid, tepid.

The 4.0% GDP reported earlier this week -- really?

********************************

72-Hour Cease-Fire Lasts ... Three Hours

Within hours of the proposed 72-hour cease-fire, Hamas started firing rockets into Israel, and captured an Israeli soldier. Fight's (back) on. 

********************************

Substantial Rise Seen in O&G Mergers, Acquisitions in 2Q

Rigzone is reporting:

The value and volume of merger and acquisitions activity in the oil and gas sector during second quarter 2014 grew substantially from the previous quarter and the second quarter of 2013, according to a recent report by PwC US.

A total of 54 oil and gas deals, with values greater than $50 million, accounted for $42.2 billion in M&A activity for the three month period ending June 30, 2014, up from 47 deals valued at $30.3 billion in the second quarter of 2013. Deal volume in this year’s second quarter was also up 15 percent from the 47 deals in the first quarter of this year, with total deal value rising 131 percent from $18.3 billion.

“The continued interest in shale plays is a testament to how companies and investors view the success of the unconventional landscape, especially as new technologies and methods come to fruition that increase speed and efficiency from the upstream and drilling process to transportation and bringing oil and gas to market,” Brady commented.

Six deals valued at $6.9 billion were reported for the Eagle Ford; three deals each were reported for the Niobrara and Permian, valued at $432 million and $1.1 billion respectively. Two deals valued at $2.9 billion were reported for the Marcellus shale play, while one deal each for the Bakken and Utica were recorded.