US Unexpectedly Lost Jobs in July

The latest jobs report arrived Friday with surprisingly weak numbers:

• Main number: The Labor Department said employers shed 23,000 jobs in July, though a poll of economists had expected a gain of about 83,000, reports the Wall Street Journal.
• June got worse: The figure is down from June, which logged a downwardly revised loss of 20,000 jobs. In fact, the department cut a total of 103,000 jobs from the May and June payrolls, per the AP.

• The rate: The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% from 4.2%, but that improvement came as fewer people were working or looking for work. The labor force participation rate dropped to 61.4%, its lowest level in more than five years, underscoring signs that the once-hot labor market is losing momentum, per CNBC.
• The markets: In Wall Street's bad-news-is-good-news mindset, stocks were rising in the wake of the report because investors think the weak data will keep the Fed from raising interest rates. The Dow was up about 180 points.