The U.S. added 187,000 jobs in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, missing forecasts for 200,000 jobs and up slightly from a revised 185,000 added in June. The unemployment rate also edged down to 3.5% in July from 3.6% in June, though economists had forecast a rate of 3.6%. Following the release of the July jobs report, the price of bitcoin (BTC) slipped a few dollars to $29,100.
The report could be among the first signs that the labor market is beginning to cool after nearly 18 months of an aggressive Federal Reserve rate hike cycle. Prior to the report, the market had priced in a 20% chance of the Fed raising rates at its next policy meeting in mid-September, but in the minutes following the news, that chance edged down to 17.5%.
Despite the headline miss, the unemployment rate ticking even lower and average hourly earnings rising 4.4% from a year ago, versus forecasts for a 4.2% rise, the news does not seem to have set off any panic alarms over the economy at the central bank.