US job openings fall to 7.1M in August, lowest since March

The signal here is the miss against every forecast, not the headline drop: it points to caution on the hiring side rather than distress, since layoffs stayed subdued. That distinction matters for rate-sensitive assets, where a cooling-but-not-contracting labor market feeds the case for policy easing without the recession narrative that usually drags risk appetite. Whether the shortfall reflects a genuine slowdown in employer demand or simply a pause in summer hiring is the open question, and the next payrolls print should help settle it.