UNEMPLOYMENT

The U.S. had been losing industrial jobs to low-cost countries, particularly in Asia, for years, but its manufacturing sector appears to be staging a surprising turnaround. In 2009, manufacturing accounted for about 11 percent of U.S. gross domestic product; in 2011, the comparable figure was 12.2 percent.

A shockingly weak jobs report hammered U.S. equities Friday, as major stock indexes headed for their worst loss of the year and erased all of their 2012 gains.

Democrats and Republicans are working to blame each other's policies for a lackluster May U.S. jobs report, cementing the critiques that will reverberate through the general election in November.

This backdrop of the weakening of the global economy could promote a broad round of coordinated central bank easing.

Some 110,000 people were added to the unemployment rolls of the 17-nation euro zone in April, the statistical office of the European Union reported Friday, once again setting a record high, as every country in the common currency agreement save for Austria, Germany and Ireland reported a deteriorating labor condition. The unemployment rate held steady at 11 percent.

A higher-than-expected 60.3 percent voted yes in the euro zone's only national referendum on the fiscal pact, a binding agreement which will tie the 25 signatories to hard budget targets and set fines for missing them.

Traders woke up this morning to the quite shocking news of the US Non-Farm Payroll employment numbers.

Yesterday morning the Chicago PMI Data came in quite weak with a reading of 52.7 versus and expectation of 56.7.

A third straight month of disappointing job data clearly suggests that the U.S. labor market conditions are deteriorating again, which economists say will undoubtedly prompt more speculation that a third round of quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve is coming soon.

Friday morning's weak jobs report made it easy for Republicans to attack President Barack Obama's economic policy, quickly blaming him for the lower-than-expected 69,000 jobs added in May and an increased employment rate from 8.1% to 8.2%

Nonfarm payrolls rose by a paltry 69,000 in May, the weakest in a year, while the unemployment rate ticked back up to 8.2 percent as the labor participation rate edged up 0.2 percent to 63.8, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had called for a total gain of 150,000 jobs.

Asian shares and the euro extended losses Friday as China's factory activity data delivered its weakest reading this year, highlighting concerns the worsening euro zone debt crisis will further undermine global economic growth.

Asian shares eased Friday, with China's factory activity data and a U.S. jobs report due later in the day making investors cautious as the escalating euro zone debt crisis threatened to further undermine growth worldwide.

On a Friday afternoon in March, the New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it would pay Janet Robinson, its recently fired CEO and a 28-year veteran of the company, a severance package of around $23.7 million.

Data wise, Switzerland GDP beat forecasts by coming in at 0.7% against expectations of no change