July Payroll +157,000 , Unemployment - 3.9%

As per the earlier preview, there were virtually no potential downsides to today's jobs report (with a possible adverse exception of tariffs), and as so often happens, moments ago the BLS reported that July payrolls missed "bigly", rising just 157K, missing expectations of 193K, and the lowest monthly print since March. The 157K July jobs is well below the average monthly gain of 203,000 over the prior 12 months.

There is one potential culprit for the miss: the bankruptcy of Toys'R'Us: as SouthBay Research notes, jobs lost from the bankrupt retailer dragged payrolls lower by 31k.

Offsetting the poor July print was the sharp upward revision to the June number which rose from 202K to 234K. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised up from +244,000 to +268,000, and the change for June was revised up from +213,000 to +248,000. With these revisions, employment gains in May and June combined were 59,000 more than previously reported.

The unemployment rate dipped from last month's 4.0%, to print where consensus expected it would, at 3.9%

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