US companies added 210,000 workers in July, the Labor Department reports. The gain matches Econoday.com’s consensus forecast. Although last month’s increase in private-sector payrolls was modestly below June’s 227,000 gain, today’s update continues to reflect a solid 2%-plus trend advance in year-over-year terms. The annual pace is still decelerating, but fractionally so. The bottom line: the labor market continues to expand at a healthy pace and for the moment the trend looks poised to endure. In turn, the case for a near-term rate hike by the Federal Reserve looks a bit stronger today.
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The Wall Street Journal’s Jon Hilsenrath — considered to be one of the most “well-connected” Fed reporters — writes today that “A Bad Jobs Report Still Might Not Shake Fed’s View.” In other words, today’s payrolls data from the Labor Department that’s scheduled for release later this morning at 08:30 am eastern isn’t likely to derail the central bank’s plans to start raising interest rates—perhaps as early as next month. Nonetheless, the near-term outlook for the timing of tighter monetary policy remains cloudy, based on the mixed signals in Treasury yields.
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● US jobless claims rise, but remain close to four-decade low
● Challenger says US layoffs hit four-year high in July
● Bloomberg’s US Consumer Comfort Index falls for fifth straight week
● Today’s payrolls report from Washington is expected to show solid growth
● WSJ: “A Bad Jobs Report Still Might Not Shake Fed’s View”
● Germany’s industrial output unexpectedly dropped in June