"Rising home prices have also continued to build the fortunes of existing homeowners, pushing tappable equity – the amount a mortgage holder can leverage while retaining a healthy 20% equity cushion – to its highest level ever." --ICE Vice President of Research and Analysis Andy Walden

The job market definitively slowed in July. Nonfarm payroll growth at 114,000 was well below the 12-month average of 215,000, while the unemployment rate moved up to its highest level since October 2021 at 4.3%, as shown in this week’s chart.