Market Brief, North America

A sense of optimism is percolating across global financial markets this morning, underpinned by hopes for a drawn-out monetary easing campaign from the Federal Reserve. Long-term bond yields are coming down across most advanced economies, equity indices are advancing, and currency markets are displaying risk-on characteristics, with the dollar retreating against all of its major peers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish its latest set of benchmark revisions at 10:00 this morning, potentially providing evidence of a slowdown in job creation long before Donald Trump’s tariffs sent measures of policy uncertainty soaring. The estimate, based on the Quarterly Census...

The US job creation engine slowed further last month, reinforcing market expectations for at least two rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in the remainder of the year. According to data just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 22,000 jobs were added in August – representing an undershoot relative to the 75,000-consensus forecast – and the unemployment rate held at 4.3 percent. The previous month was revised up to a still-low 79,000 from the 73,000 previously estimated, and average hourly earnings climbed 3.7 percent year-over-year, slowing from the 3.8-pace set in the prior month. The manufacturing sector—purportedly the...