Just two days after Fed Chair Jerome Powell refused to pre-commit to a September rate cut, the U.S. labor market did it for him.
- SPY ETF breaks past support. See real-time price here.
A weak July jobs report and the biggest downward 2-month revisions since 2020 have economists—and markets—racing to President Donald Trump‘s side on calling for lower interest rates.
Labor Data Breaks Down And Manufacturing Is Not Helping Either
The U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, far below the 110,000 expected.
But the real shock came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics revising May and June non-farm payrolls down by a combined 258,000—erasing what were thought to be solid job gains. This is the largest two-month revision since the COVID-19 shock in 2020.
Private-sector job growth was narrowly concentrated, driven largely by healthcare, while government payrolls fell by 10,000. The unemployment rate edged up to 4.2%, reversing June’s drop.
Wages, however, remained hot. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% month-over-month and 3.9% year-over-year, both beating …