DBI Today: 52.0 (−0.2)
Friday delivered one of those days where the headline number and the mood in the room told completely different stories. The U.S. government reported that employers cut 23,000 jobs in July — a stunning miss against forecasts for a gain of roughly 90,000 — yet the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at fresh record highs anyway, because traders read the weak data as proof the Federal Reserve, America's central bank, has no reason to raise interest rates any time soon. The Daily Business Index, our daily 0–100 reading of global business health where 50 marks neutral, landed at 52.0, barely moved from Friday's 52.2. Underneath that calm surface, a genuine tug-of-war was playing out between a cooling labour market and a market that's decided bad news is good news.
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