Labor Market Proves Weaker Than Expected. That Could Keep Rate Hikes at Bay.

The July jobs report made one thing very clear: Policymakers and investors can't take their eye off the ball. Going into Friday's data release, the consensus was that the labor market was stable and had gained ground since last year's stalled-out environment. It proved to be a bit of a similar pattern to recent years, particularly 2025, when July payrolls disappointed and the BLS lowered the previous two months' estimated payroll gains by 258,000.