A Labour Market Soft Landing Is Still In Play  

• Data from the Department of Labour showed 239,000 jobless claims were registered in the week ending August 12, down 11,000 from the week prior.
• Economists have been looking for that number to increase, and the monthly nonfarm payroll additions to fall, as the Federal Reserve tries to cool inflation. However, a historically low unemployment rate and rising wages have some seeing a path to a so-called "soft landing," where economic growth slows, inflation falls but widespread unemployment isn't present.
• Jefferies US economist Thomas Simons says Thursday's jobless claims print is a small example of how the path to that soft landing is getting increasingly more likely but isn't a sure thing quite yet.
• "Businesses have been extremely reticent to let go of workers that they struggled to find over the last 3 years," Simons wrote. "We doubt that they will be able to hold on to everyone indefinitely, but they're going to try. The chances of a soft landing in the labour market seem to be increasing somewhat, but there is going to be an ebb and flow on this expectation as we work through this choppy data."

(Source: Yahoo Finance)