On July 2, following the release of the latest employment data by the U.S. government, the market on Thursday bet that the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this month has significantly weakened due to a noticeable slowdown in job growth. The highly anticipated employment report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday showed that non-farm payrolls increased by 57,000 in June, which is about half of what economists had expected. The job growth data for May was revised down from an initially reported 172,000 to 129,000. Seema Shah, Chief Global Strategist at Principal Asset Management, wrote: 'The slowdown in job growth challenges the expectations of labor market recovery seen in recent months, but more importantly, it reinforces the view that the Federal Reserve faces limited pressure to tighten policy.' Currently, short-term interest rate futures traders believe the probability of a rate hike in July has dropped to below 20%, but they still see a higher likelihood of a rate increase in September.