Job Watch -- Private Sector Jobs -- Big Miss; Meanwhile Unemployment Claims Unexpectedly Jump -- July 6, 2017

Unemployment: holding steady.

The unemployment rate is forecast steady at a 16-year low of 4.3 percent. It has dropped five-tenths of a percentage point this year and matches the most recent Fed median forecast for 2017.

Jobs miss - CNBC:

• forecast: 185,000
• actual: 158,000

Unemployment claims: unexpectedly jumped

• for first time, rose to 248,000
• forecast: a dip to 243,000 from the prior unrevised 244,00
• actual: 248,000
• four-week moving average: 243,000; up 750 from prior week

Woulda, coulda, shoulda: one wonders what the numbers would have been had we had health care issue resolved and tax reform in place.

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Back To The Bakken

Active rigs:

$45.96	7/6/2017	07/06/2016	07/06/2015	07/06/2014	07/06/2013
Active Rigs	57	31	76	191	188

RBN Energy: crude output, petrochemical growth drive Enterprise Products Partners' margin rise. 

Midstream giant Enterprise Products Partners (EPD) has attracted significant investor interest because of its simplified structure, 51 consecutive quarters of dividend growth and strong coverage — $2.7 billion in retained cash in the past three years.

The company, with a market capitalization of $58 billion, has also quietly continued to build out its large integrated midstream network despite the plunge in commodity prices, investing almost $18 billion in organic growth projects and acquisitions in 2014-16.

The end result is impressive: Enterprise is now connected to every major U.S. shale basin, every U.S. ethylene cracker and 90% of the refineries east of the Rocky Mountains.

As a result, the company is well positioned to benefit from the recovery in oil and gas production, especially in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale; the surge in hydrocarbon exports; and the rapid growth of the U.S. petrochemical industry.