Job Market Cracks Widen Heading Into Fall

The U.S. job market appears an increasingly frozen tundra for job seekers. New jobs data shows the growing economic strain consumers and investors contend with heading into fall months. As the strain grows, looking beyond traditional strategies could prove beneficial when diversifying portfolios to contend with economic and market complexity this fall.

Last month’s jobs added report revealed monumental slowing, with just 73,000 jobs created. Significant downward revisions to May and June’s jobs added data resulted in the president firing the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in August.

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Now, new data shines further light on an increasingly intractable job market. July’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover report revealed the second-lowest level since the end of 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic, reported CNBC. 7.18 million jobs were listed in July, well below the 7.4 million expected.

The growing friction between a deteriorating job market and rising inflation leaves the Federal Reserve in a difficult spot in regards to rates. Further compounding the picture are the inflationary impacts of tariffs, only recently being more fully felt across industries and by consumers. These layers of complexity and uncertainty create muddled outlooks for interest rates, inflation, and the direction of the economy in the second half.

Add Diversification This Fall With Unlimited’s Hedge Fund ETF Suite

Advisors and investors wanting to enhance the diversification potential of their portfolios through alternatives would do well to consider the actively managed hedge fund ETF suite from Unlimited. The firm replicates a variety of hedge fund sector returns while enhancing them through a 2x approach.

Unlimited offers a suite of actively managed hedge fund replication ETFs, which includes the broader Unlimited HFND Multi-Strategy Return Tracker ETF (HFND). The fund seeks to provide twice the returns of the hedge fund industry by replicating 2x returns of the major sectors. Strategies covered are global macro, long/short equity, emerging markets, managed futures, and more.

The Unlimited HFGM Global Macro ETF (HFGM) seeks to capitalize on global market mispricing. The strategy takes long and short positions across equities, fixed income, currency, credit, and exchange rate markets. The fund makes a strong complement to traditional portfolios with its low correlations and higher-octane approach to alternatives.

The Unlimited HFMF Managed Futures ETF (HFMF) aims to generate a similar return profile as the managed futures sector within the hedge fund industry. Unlimited uses a proprietary algorithm to create a portfolio of long and short positions in ETFs and futures. These positions replicate the sectors’ most recent returns, and double the volatility.

The Unlimited HFEQ Equity Long/Short ETF (HFEQ) focuses on generating a similar return profile as the equity long/short sector within the hedge fund industry. The strategy works to generate alpha compared to investing in the stock market broadly. It also aims for twice the volatility of the sector to generate potential outperformance.

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