Your Weekend Reading: The ‘R’ Word Is Popping Up Everywhere

The US posted bigger-than-expected job gains for June but a dip in participation, which means the tight labor market isn’t running out of steam and the Federal Reserve will stay on course with aggressive rate hikes to fight inflation. While President Joe Biden touted those record employment numbers, Republicans are assailing the White House over high inflation, as are a few Democrats. With Russia cutting natural gas flows to Europe, the broader debate is moving from inflation to recession. Any asset you care to look at has the “R word” looming large: from copper to oil to fixed income. Whatever shape a recession takes—if one happens—it’s going to hurt. For some, it already feels like it’s here, with many consumers increasingly squeezed. At the end of the day, according to John Authers in Bloomberg Opinion, it’s the central banks that got it wrong.

Shinzo Abe, who was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was assassinated on Friday, stunning one of the safest countries in the world. Abe was known for unprecedented monetary easing and regulatory reform—labeled “Abenomics.”