U.S. states’ jobless rolls shrank for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic in a sign people are starting to return to work, even as millions more Americans filed for unemployment benefits. Continuing claims, which tally Americans’ ongoing benefit claims in state programs, fell to 21.1 million for the week ended May 16, Labor Department figures showed Thursday. Those data are reported with a one-week lag. That suggests the job market is starting to rebound as businesses reopen. (Bloomberg) With Donald Trump and Xi Jinping both focused on ramping up domestic support in the wake of the pandemic, the bottom is rapidly falling out of U.S.- China relations. And few in either Washington or Beijing seem in the mood to stop it. U.S. lawmakers are pushing the president to hit China with sanctions or other measures for its increasing grip on Hong Kong and human rights abuses toward minority Muslims in Xinjiang. China, meanwhile, has vowed to punch back at the U.S. while moving ahead with national security legislation over Hong Kong, which prompted Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to declare the city was no longer sufficiently autonomous. (Bloomberg) Source: Danareksa Sekuritas Debt Research Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash