Testimony from Fed Chair Powell, June Inflation Data Will Be Closely Watched This Week Key TakeawaysFriday's employment report showed that employers added fewer jobs in June and that the unemployment rate rose to its highest level since late 2021.

Employers added 206,000 payroll jobs in June, according to the new jobs report just released by the US Department of Labor. That was just slightly above the consensus economist forecast of 190,000. But, on many other measures, we see a labor market that is gradually cooling.

U.S. employment increased solidly in June, but government hiring accounted for more than a third of the payrolls gain and the unemployment rate hit a 2-1/2-year high of 4.1%, pointing to a slackening labor market that keeps the Federal Reserve on course to start cutting interest rates this year.