On August 7, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a decrease of 23,000 non-farm jobs in July, falling short of the 80,000 jobs increase anticipated by economists surveyed by Reuters. Additionally, revisions for May and June resulted in a downward adjustment of 103,000 jobs. Following this report, the likelihood of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in September dropped to approximately 44%, down from 55% in the previous session, as indicated by CME FedWatch. On the same day, the S&P 500 rose by 0.62%, closing at a record high, bolstered by corporate earnings: of the 436 index constituents that reported results by Friday morning, 85.1% exceeded analyst expectations, compared to a historical average of 68% since 1994.