Market Data Brief - 2026-08-01

This brief summarizes the latest records available in Vox’s local investdatar caches. Dates shown in source details are data dates, not publication promises.

Source cutoff: 2026-08-01 UTC. Historical reconstruction uses finalized local observations on or before 2026-08-01 UTC; it is not a point-in-time data vintage.

RSS Updates

RSS publication window: after 2026-07-31 through 2026-08-01 UTC.

atlfed_gdpnow

no items published after 2026-07-31 through 2026-08-01

sec_press_releases

no items published after 2026-07-31 through 2026-08-01

fed_press_all

no items published after 2026-07-31 through 2026-08-01

cftc_press_releases

no items published after 2026-07-31 through 2026-08-01

FRED Shock Summary

The monetary-policy observations were essentially unchanged at the cutoff. The Interest Rate on Reserve Balances remained at 3.65%, while the federal funds target range stayed at 3.50% to 3.75%. The effective federal funds rate was 3.63%, unchanged from its prior monthly observation and positioned 13 basis points above the lower target bound and 12 basis points below the upper bound. The 3-month Treasury bill rate edged down only 1 basis point, from 3.73% to 3.72%. Taken strictly together, these observations describe a short-rate environment with little movement across the reported comparisons rather than a material change in the administered-rate or money-market configuration.

The labor-market readings were mixed rather than uniformly strengthening or weakening. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased from 158.913 million to 159.075 million, a gain of 162,000. Average hourly earnings also rose: all private employees increased from $37.65 to $37.75 per hour, about 0.27%, while production and nonsupervisory earnings rose from $32.42 to $32.53, about 0.34%. Labor-force participation increased from 61.4% to 61.6%, a 0.2 percentage-point rise. At the same time, the headline unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%, while unemployment among nonagricultural private wage and salary workers increased from 3.9% to 4.1%. These measures therefore show simultaneous employment and wage gains alongside some softer unemployment detail in the private-worker subgroup.

Claims data were similarly two-sided over their respective weekly comparisons. Initial claims rose from 198,000 to 200,000, an increase of 2,000 or roughly 1.0%, while continued claims fell from 1.799 million to 1.781 million, a decline of 18,000 or about 1.0%. Because the two claims series moved in opposite directions and represent different stages of unemployment insurance activity, the supplied values do not support a single-direction characterization on their own.

The largest proportional moves in the packet were in the uncertainty measures. The U.S. Economic Policy Uncertainty Index declined from 251.66 to 218.95, a drop of 32.71 points or about 13.0%. The equity-market-related uncertainty index fell from 141.58 to 65.69, a much larger decline of 75.89 points or about 53.6%. These are one-period changes in index readings, so they establish a pronounced reduction in the supplied uncertainty measures at the cutoff but do not, by themselves, identify a cause or imply persistence. Overall, the deterministic FRED snapshot combines stable policy rates, modest payroll and wage gains, higher participation, unchanged headline unemployment, mixed claims, and sharply lower measured uncertainty.

Update details:

Interest Rate on Reserve Balances (IORB Rate) [IORB, unit=Percent]: latest 3.65 on 2026-08-01; previous 3.65 on 2026-07-31.
Federal Funds Effective Rate [FEDFUNDS, unit=Percent]: latest 3.63 on 2026-08-01; previous 3.63 on 2026-07-01.
Average Hourly Earnings of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, Total Private [AHETPI, unit=Dollars per Hour]: latest 32.53 on 2026-08-01; previous 32.42 on 2026-07-01.
Continued Claims (Insured Unemployment) [CCSA, unit=Number]: latest 1781000.00 on 2026-08-01; previous 1799000.00 on 2026-07-25.
Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private [CES0500000003, unit=Dollars per Hour]: latest 37.75 on 2026-08-01; previous 37.65 on 2026-07-01.
Labor Force Participation Rate [CIVPART, unit=Percent]: latest 61.60 on 2026-08-01; previous 61.40 on 2026-07-01.
Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit [DFEDTARL, unit=Percent]: latest 3.50 on 2026-08-01; previous 3.50 on 2026-07-31.
Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit [DFEDTARU, unit=Percent]: latest 3.75 on 2026-08-01; previous 3.75 on 2026-07-31.
Initial Claims [ICSA, unit=Number]: latest 200000.00 on 2026-08-01; previous 198000.00 on 2026-07-25.
Unemployment Rate - Nonagriculture, Private Wage and Salary Workers [LNU04032229, unit=Percent]: latest 4.10 on 2026-08-01; previous 3.90 on 2026-07-01.
All Employees, Total Nonfarm [PAYEMS, unit=Thousands of Persons]: latest 159075.00 on 2026-08-01; previous 158913.00 on 2026-07-01.
3-Month Treasury Bill Secondary Market Rate, Discount Basis [TB3MS, unit=Percent]: latest 3.72 on 2026-08-01; previous 3.73 on 2026-07-01.
Unemployment Rate [UNRATE, unit=Percent]: latest 4.10 on 2026-08-01; previous 4.10 on 2026-07-01.
Economic Policy Uncertainty Index for United States [USEPUINDXD, unit=Index]: latest 218.95 on 2026-08-01; previous 251.66 on 2026-07-31.
Equity Market-related Economic Uncertainty Index [WLEMUINDXD, unit=Index]: latest 65.69 on 2026-08-01; previous 141.58 on 2026-07-31.

Yahoo Shock Summary

The supplied crypto observations show a modestly negative session across both assets, with Ethereum underperforming Bitcoin on a percentage basis. Bitcoin closed at $62,763.32 on 2026-08-01 versus $62,813.75 on 2026-07-31, a decline of $50.43 or 0.08%. The move was small relative to the asset’s quoted price and left Bitcoin nearly unchanged across the two completed closes.

Ethereum closed at $1,843.42 versus $1,860.35 previously, a decline of $16.93 or 0.91%. Its percentage loss was therefore substantially larger than Bitcoin’s: about 0.83 percentage points more negative, and roughly eleven times Bitcoin’s percentage decline in absolute percentage terms. Using only the two supplied assets and observations, the cross-asset pattern is one of mild broad weakness with materially greater downside in Ethereum than in Bitcoin.

The data do not establish whether this relative performance reflected asset-specific factors, a broader crypto move, or other market forces, because no additional prices, volumes, intraday information, or external context are provided. The defensible conclusion from the deterministic snapshot is limited to direction and relative magnitude: both completed closes were lower, Bitcoin was close to flat, and Ethereum experienced the more pronounced decline.