July Non-farm payrolls came in as expected at 164,000 jobs, a number that represents a slowing pace versus June's 224,000. The unemployment report printed at 3.7%, remaining at near 50-year lows. The underlying details of household employment were robust, registering 283,000, and the participation rate ticked up to 63%.
Average hourly earnings also increased 0.3%, taking the year-over-year household earnings number to 3.2%. This is significant as the Fed pays very close attention to wage inflation, which has been lagging lately.
Global equities continue to be weighted down by tariff-related angst as Asian equities sold off by nearly 2%. European markets took their cue from Asia, selling off as much as 3.6% in the case of the DAX. The three major domestic stock indexes were off over 1% this morning.
Various Chinese "sourced" comments have indicated that the Beijing is preparing retaliatory tariffs. As one unnamed source said per the Global Times, "China regrets this new, unreliable behavior."
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