Stocks hit record highs even as jobs shrink, and this is good for company profits but bad for regular people trying to find work.

• July jobs came in negative, with 23,000 jobs lost and big downward revisions cutting another 103,000 from earlier months.
• Unemployment ticked down only because people gave up looking — labor force participation is at its lowest since the 1970s, with 2.1 million people leaving the workforce since last November.
• Companies are posting record earnings by firing staff and leaning on AI, so profits soar while wages stay flat — a K-shaped economy where Wall Street wins and Main Street struggles.
• Everyday job seekers describe endless applications, ghost job postings, and five rounds of interviews for low-paid roles that pack several jobs into one title.
• The government is set to change how it calculates inflation in a way that pushes the numbers lower, even as next week's inflation data is expected to come in hot.

Outlook: A stronger inflation reading next week could put a September rate hike back on the table, keeping pressure on workers while markets ride the AI-driven profit boom.