👷🏽‍♂️ Where Is The US Labor Market Headed?

Good morning. US stock futures rose in Wednesday morning trading as investors parsed the latest earnings reports and readied for the Federal Reserve monetary policy decision.

🧑‍💼 US labor market showing signs of resilience

📝 Our report: U.S. job openings dipped slightly in June, with revised data for the previous month showing higher numbers, highlighting the labor market's ongoing strength that supports the economy. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, had dropped by 46,000 to 8.184 million by the last day of June, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its recently released Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report.

 🔑 Key points:

• Job openings have been steadily declining since hitting a record 12.182 million in March 2022 as demand moderates in response to the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes.

• Data for May was revised higher to show 8.230 million unfilled positions instead of the previously reported 8.140 million. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 8.0 million job openings in June.

• A loosening labor market adds to subsiding inflation in building the case for the U.S. central bank to begin cutting rates in September.

💡 So what: A loosening labor market in the U.S. implies a range of significant effects, including slower wage growth, increased unemployment, and reduced inflationary pressures. As more people seek jobs than there are available positions, workers' bargaining power diminishes, impacting their ability to negotiate for better wages and benefits. Certain sectors, particularly labor-intensive ones, may feel these effects more acutely, potentially prompting broader economic adjustments.

Wednesday - FOMC Interest-Rate Decision, Fed Chair Powell Press Conference

Thursday - U.S. Productivity

Friday - U.S. Unemployment Rate

📈 Carlos Slim shares his tips for investing success!

💳 What’s the difference between “good debt'“ and “bad debt”?

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💰 US hedge funds pour into crypto

WHAT: More than half of America’s largest hedge funds are now betting on bitcoin, according to investment firm River. River analyzed the cryptocurrency exposure of the country’s largest 25 hedge funds and determined that more than 50% are investing in bitcoin. Most of the firms gained this exposure by scooping up bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which debuted in the U.S. this past January.

WHY: Market analysts are optimistic that bitcoin can soar to new heights this year, and may even function as a hedge against inflation, though this is a topic of considerable debate in bitcoin communities.

🛒 Amazon under pressure over hazardous item sales

WHAT: A U.S. government agency recently ruled that Amazon is on the hook for hazardous products sold by third-party sellers on its platform and shipped by the company. In a unanimous vote, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said it determined that the e-commerce company was a “distributor” of faulty items sold on its site and packed and shipped through its fulfillment service.

WHY: Overall, Amazon accounts for roughly 40% of e-commerce sales in the U.S., according to the market research firm Emarketer. The company sells many items directly to consumers and also partners with nearly 2 million third-party sellers, who drive the majority of the sales on the platform.

🤖 Another day, another Meta lawsuit…

WHAT: Meta Platforms has agreed to shell out $1.4 billion to Texas, settling a lawsuit that accused the Facebook parent of using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. Texas accused Facebook of capturing biometric information "billions of times" from photos and videos that users uploaded to the social media platform as part of a free, discontinued feature called "Tag Suggestions."

WHY: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement said the settlement marks the state’s "commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights."

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