US job openings totaled 7.271 million in July, below the 7.33 million market forecast and the previous month’s 7.359 million. The Labor Department’s JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) report pointed to some cooling in labor demand, although openings remained above the previous month’s revised figure and did not indicate a sharp contraction. The job openings rate rose to 4.4% from 4.3%, while hiring fell to 5.054 million from 5.332 million and the hiring rate declined to 3.2% from 3.4%. Voluntary quits were about 3.1 million, layoffs and discharges about 1.7 million, and total separations remained near 5.1 million. Separately, the ISM manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) was 54.6 in August, below forecasts and July’s 55.6 but still above the 50 threshold that indicates expansion.