Weak US Jobs Data Cast Doubt on Fed’s Wait-and-See Approach (3)

A weaker-than-expected July jobs report is calling into question the Federal Reserve’s wait-and-see approach to interest-rate cuts, boosting the likelihood of a reduction at the central bank’s next meeting in September.

Data published Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed payroll gains slowed to just 35,000 on average over the last three months, marking the slowest pace of hiring since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%.

“It certainly does look like if the Fed had had these numbers — especially the big revisions lower that we had to the ...