Today's Scoop:

Hey friends - make sure you’re taking advantage of the summer slowdown! Go grab dinner with friends tonight.

Here’s what you need to know today…

1. Companies have been cutting back hiring plans.

2. Homes are the least affordable they’ve been in decades.

3. Bitcoin may soon be more easily available on the stock market.

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S&P 500: 4,497.63
1Mo: -2% | 1Yr: +13% | 5Yr: +55%

The market jumped today as investors celebrated not-so-great economic data, hoping it means less inflation and lower interest rates.

Companies have cut back on hiring plans. The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary reported the number of job openings shrank to 8.8 million in July from 9.1 million in June. That’s down from record highs of the past year, but still much higher than normal. There are still more than 1.5 available jobs for every unemployed person. Typically, it’s closer to 1:1. The biggest cutbacks were in business services and healthcare.

Home prices keep climbing. S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller reported median home prices rose by 0.7% in June, the fifth straight month of gains. High prices and high mortgage rates have made this the most unaffordable housing market since 1984, according to Black Knight Inc. The unappealing costs of a new home are not only deterring buyers but also sellers, limiting the supply of available homes and keeping prices high.

Bitcoin may soon be more easily available on the stock market. Crypto investment firm Grayscale moved closer to launching a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) after a judge ruled that regulators were wrong to block its launch. Grayscale currently offers access to Bitcoin through a less-popular investment trust structure. Converting to an ETF would be a more familiar format, allowing it to trade freely throughout the day like a stock and match Bitcoin’s price more accurately.

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• Chevron faces global gas disruption from worker strike [🤓]

• Walmart ramps up drone deliveries

• Toyota shuts down 14 factories over technical glitch

• Nio promises a sales turnaround

• Uber makes big promises to shift to electric

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What exactly is a labor union?

A labor union is an organization of workers that band together to collectively bargain for improvements to their working conditions, wages, and benefits. Any industry can have a union. It starts by hosting some form of election in the workplace to acknowledge that the workers of that unit would like to unionize. Then, it expands to a more formalized agreement and negotiation process. New union workers can choose to be represented as part of an established, industry-wide union. Employers can dissuade workers from unionizing, but it's illegal to threaten or coerce. That grey line in between is for the lawyers.

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Getting and Staying Invested: When markets are volatile, and facing a lot of uncertainty, it can be very difficult to know when and how much to invest. The most important thing to remember is that it’s much more important to be invested than to time your investments perfectly.

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