This Economist Is Expecting July's 'Relatively Normal' Jobs Report To Mark A New Trend

The first Friday of every month is more often than not a volatile trading session as the U.S. government releases payroll data for the prior month.

Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities, isn't necessarily expecting much volatility this Friday. According to Bloomberg, the economist expects the U.S. government to report July payrolls rose by 170,000, which does fall short of a Bloomberg survey of economists that are expecting 180,000 job gains.

Gains have averaged 172,000 a month from January through June.

Stanley told Bloomberg that if the July figure is "relatively normal" then many people will conclude "that whatever July prints is more or less the new trend."

July's payroll also comes at a time when the prior two reports were a mixed bag. Employers added just 11,000 workers in May - the lowest reading in nearly six years. However, the figure rebounded drastically in June as employers added 287,000 jobs - the highest reading in eight months.

Meanwhile, jobless claims remained below 300,000 this week and has done so for the past 74 weeks. In fact, this marks the longest stretch dating back to 1973.

Economists are expecting the unemployment rate to slightly dip to 4.8 percent from 4.9 percent.