Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, August 7, 2026
While the jobs report has implications for Fed policy, inflation data remains the primary focus. Economists expect continued attention on CPI and PPI, as inflation is still distant from the Fed's target, and the jobs report, while signaling weakness, does not alleviate pressure on upcoming inflation figures.
“Absolutely, the inflation data are front and center right and you want to see we got a very soft inflation read for June. We don't expect that to show up again in July exactly that way. But you want to see some softness or at least getting back to something that's consistent with target right, and so there'll be a lot of attention to the CPI, the PPI, the import prices.”
“I mean, inflation is still front and center, because inflation is still very far from the FEDS target and you need and if nothing else, you want to see it move in the right direction. Today we're seeing employment move and not the right direction. Maybe next week we'll get some better news on inflation, but I don't think this takes any pressure off of the CPI.”