Read the highlights of this week’s commentary from Helios:
Job gains more than doubled forecasts with 528K new jobs compared to the 250K median forecast. Further, prior data was revised upwards by 28K as well, putting employment back to pre-pandemic levels.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% after holding at 3.6% since March. However, the participation rate declined slightly as well to 62.1%, down from 62.2% in June and 62.3% in May.
The ISM Manufacturing Index fell slightly in July to 52.8, from 53.0, but remained in expansionary territory (above 50). On the positive side, durable goods and factory orders both increased 2.0% in June, an acceleration from 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively, in May.
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