U.S. job vacancies hit a three-year low in July! Bitcoin and U.S. stocks rose

U.S. job openings fell to their lowest level since early 2021 in July, and layoffs rose, consistent with other signs of slowing labor demand.

Data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Wednesday showed that job openings fell to 7.67 million in July from a revised 7.91 million in the previous month. This data was lower than market expectations.

After the release of the report, gold rose in the short term and approached the $2,500 mark; gold U.S. Treasury yields fell and the S&P 500 fell. The U.S. 2-year/10-year Treasury yield curve turned positive for the second time since 2022.

After the data was released, Wall Street's bets on the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts increased, and the Federal Reserve's interest rate swaps showed that the Federal Reserve will further ease monetary policy in 2024.

Chris Larkin of Morgan Stanley E*Trade said, "The market may not be as nervous as it was a month ago, but they are still looking for evidence that the economy has not cooled too much. So far this week, they have not been confirmed."

The decline in job vacancies is consistent with recent data showing that the labor market is slowing, which has caused concern among Federal Reserve officials. Job growth is slowing, unemployment is rising and it's becoming increasingly difficult for job seekers to find work, fueling concerns that the economy could be in a recession.

Fed policymakers have made it clear that they don't want to see the labor market cool further and are expected to start cutting interest rates at their next meeting in two weeks.

After disappointing July employment data and a sharp downgrade to wages last year, Fed officials and market participants are closely watching August employment data to be released on Friday, especially if the report is another weak one, as the Fed could cut interest rates sharply. The market expects that the pace of hiring by U.S. companies will slow and the unemployment rate will fall.

The JOLTS report also showed that layoffs rose to 1.76 million, the highest level since March 2023, with the largest number of layoffs in the leisure and hospitality industry. At the same time, hiring rose slightly from the lowest level since April 2020.

Job openings in health care, state and local government, and trade and transportation all fell.

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