A weaker-than-expected employment report for July might be all the Federal Reserve needs to take a pause from raising interest rates after 17 straight hikes. That was the conclusion in financial markets Friday after the Labor Department reported that payroll jobs rose 113,000 last month, about 37,000 below the consensus figure. The national unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.8 percent from 4.6 percent. Central bank leaders have been looking for the right moment to bring Fed interest rate increases to a halt, and economic analysts said say that moment appears to have arrived as a result of the less-than-robust employment picture.
See "Job weakness raises rate optimism", William Neikirk, Chicago Tribune, August 6, 2006