The BLS has released data today on nonfarm payrolls – 84,000 jobs down in July; consensus projections were running somewhere in the range of -75,000.  Probably the most impressive data point was the revision in the June NFP from -51K to -100K. 

The unemployment rate officially jumped to 6.1% (from 5.7%), with Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Keith Hall noting that last month “workers age 25 and over accounted for all of the increase in unemployment”, as opposed to months prior. 

The data has the “sky is falling” crowd running for the exits today; no question the news isn’t good.  The more economically intelligent folks on our team are concerned about a negative feedback loop intensifying – as unemployment rates increases negative impacts occur in the credit markets – it could be argued with credibility that credit is basically collapsing.  That should have deflationary impacts…(we’re wandering into territory we promised not to several weeks ago). 

Fallout from the data should be most impactful next early next week – this does make life a bit more interesting.  Some nice timelines from Calculated Risk and EconompicData help to put today’s data in historical perspective. 

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