This is the best summary I could come up with:

U.S. job openings dropped to the lowest level in nearly 2-1/2 years in July as the labor market gradually slowed, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged next month.

“Although the labor market is still tight, the degree of excess demand is declining and is coming about through companies reducing the number of vacancies rather than increasing layoffs and unemployment,” said Conrad DeQuadros, senior economic advisor at Brean Capital in New York.

The labor market has largely been resilient despite 525 basis points in interest rate hikes from the Fed since March 2022, in part as employers filled positions that opened up during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waning labor market optimism combined with a surge in gasoline prices to weigh on consumer confidence this month, erasing the back-to-back increases in June and July.

“The labor market is slowly cooling and this helps make the case for an economic soft landing where inflation can be brought under control without triggering the massive job losses seen in recessions,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS in New York.

“The quits rates … suggests workers are becoming less confident in their ability to find a new, perhaps higher paying job,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist at the Bank of the West in San Francisco.

The original article contains 942 words, the summary contains 214 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!