Surprisingly weak July hiring data released on Friday highlighted a fractious Federal Reserve debate over whether the central bank should have cut interest rates when it met this week, as it offered some support to those who’d favored an easing in borrowing costs.

If you look at the labor market, what you see is, by many, many statistics, the labor market is kind of still in balance,” Powell said. While demand for workers is slowing, t

"With economic growth slowing this year and signs of a less dynamic labor market, I saw it as appropriate to begin gradually moving our moderately restrictive policy stance toward a neutral setting," Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said in a statement.