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Oil Falls to Seven-Month Low as Demand Fears Overwhelm War Risks

(Bloomberg) -- Oil slumped to the lowest in almost seven months as concerns about demand in the world’s two biggest economies overshadowed heightened geopolitical risk.Most Read from BloombergSinger Akon’s Multibillion-Dollar Futuristic City in Africa Gets Final NoticeValencia Follows Barcelona in Crackdown on Short-Term RentalsWhat a Beautiful Bus Stop Can DoA Vast Wetland Park Seeks to Slake a Thirsty MegacityUber and Lyft Strike NYC Deal to Scale Back Driver LockoutsBrent crude slid 3.4% to s

Four reasons to take a breath after the U.S. jobs report

The disappointing U.S. employment report for July unleashed a "Freakout Friday" moment in financial markets and triggered a wholesale resetting of expectations for how much the Federal Reserve might cut interest rates next month. There was much to grimace about in the Bureau of Labor Statistics report card on the job market, including a jump in the unemployment rate to a post-pandemic high and the weakest pace of private-sector hiring in 16 months. The BLS added a big footnote to the first page of Friday's release to say Hurricane Beryl - which slammed into Texas during the employment report survey week and left some 2.7 million homes and businesses in the Houston area without power for days - "had no discernible effect" on the month's data.