Despite the World Cup and a shortened week due to the US Independence Day holiday, last week delivered a slew of interesting economic data and market action. The overarching themes were a cooling of the US labor market, which helped moderate recent rate-hike fears, mixed legal judgments regarding the outlook for Federal Reserve independence, and further equity market rotation amid somewhat higher yields. America’s June jobs report, released on Thursday due to the federal holiday, was the marquee data release. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 57,000, about half the consensus forecast, while the estimates for the previous ... (full story)