The July 31 week will be narrowly focused on what is happening in the labor market. At his July 26 press briefing, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the US labor market remains “very tight”. Despite 525 basis points worth of rate hikes since March 2022 and the highest fed funds target rate since 5.5 percent in January 2001, labor market conditions have not deteriorated appreciably. The unemployment rate in June 2023 was 3.6 percent. It has gone up and down a bit since the 3.6 percent in March 2022, but remains near historic lows and consistent with strong labor demand. Will the week’s reports related to the job market ... (full story)