For anyone who was around on “Liberation Day” in April, market reaction to US President Donald Trump’s overnight tariff fusillade—replete with new levies, new targets and new delays—was predictable. But it wasn’t just Trump’s latest spray of trade threats that sent markets diving to their lowest point in months.

As Trump’s initial 90-day self-imposed delay of “reciprocal” tariffs comes to an end, and in the aftermath of gross domestic product data showing the economy slowing, there was fresh bad news for the president on Friday. Grim employment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) appeared to hammer another nail into the coffin of what had been a few years of record US employment.

The jobless rate rose to 4.2% last month, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 73,000, less than almost all economists had forecast. But the damage wasn’t limited to July. The big story was revisions to the prior two months, which lopped off 258,000 jobs. Taken together, the numbers entirely change the tone of recent trends. The average three-month payroll gain went from 150,000 before Friday’s release to just 35,000.

Trump’s reaction to all of this was to shoot the messenger. He said in a social media post that he had instructed his aides to fire Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner. And while the role has traditionally been considered independent, recent rulings in Trump’s favor by the Supreme Court appear to undercut that notion.

Trump’s bid to consolidate power over the past six months, and in particular his effort to bend the Federal Reserve to his will (which may have just gotten easier), has stirred concern about the independence of regulators and agencies. Indeed, Trump, 79, renewed his attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, 72, saying on Friday he should be put “out to pasture.” But Trump’s termination of McEntarfer may trigger something more dire than the worries over his preoccupation with Powell: distrust in US economic data.

“If this holds, and I assume it will, it would be a very big deal. We would not be able to have great confidence in the integrity of the data going forward,” said Julia Coronado, founder of the research firm MacroPolicy Perspectives. “This data is a public service of enormous value, and its integrity is essential.” —David E. Rovella

What You Need to Know Today

Beyond today’s economic dramas, Trump got into a flame war with Vladimir Putin-adjutant and ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. It included an exchange of insults tied to Trump’s recent Ukraine ultimatums, as well as an unprecedented Trump threat about the positioning of US nuclear submarines.

But as all of that was going on, news broke that Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender and former associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, was moved by the Trump administration to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse underage women after being convicted in 2021 of various charges, including sex-trafficking of a minor.

Maxwell has been cooperating with the Trump administration as it’s sought to defuse a growing outcry from the Republican Party base to release documents tied to Epstein’s prosecution—especially any details on who he associated with. Trump has acknowledged a friendship with Epstein, but what hasn’t been reported until now is that an FBI Freedom of Information Act team is said to have redacted Trump’s name—and the names of other prominent public figures—from the documents.

The US Supreme Court indicated it will consider outlawing the use of race in drawing voting maps, setting up a blockbuster showdown with implications for dozens of congressional districts with predominantly minority populations. Expanding a Louisiana case already on their docket, the court said it will consider arguments that the 1965 Voting Rights Act no longer provides a legitimate basis for map-drawers to intentionally create majority-Black or majority-Hispanic districts.

The Supreme Court for decades has interpreted the Voting Rights Act to require the creation of heavily Black or Hispanic voting districts in many circumstances. The landmark law was passed to prevent obstacles Black Americans faced to voting in southern states, such as poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation. Members of the court’s Republican-appointed supermajority have questioned whether that practice remains constitutionally justified.

Hedge funds boosted their bullish bets on crude oil at the fastest pace in over a month as Trump’s threat of additional levies on Russia drove fears about tighter supplies (and the aforementioned tense exchange with Medvedev). Money managers increased their combined net-long position on West Texas Intermediate and Brent by the most since mid-June, when the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated.  

What You’ll Need to Know Tomorrow