1. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 215,000 in July, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Friday. (Consensus estimates called for a reading of 225,000.) Notably, the market will be looking to the Fed as the flat unemployment rate is nearing the 5 to 5.2 percent level that the central bank would consider “full” employment.
2. Shire plc (Nasdaq: SHPG) affirmed that it made a proposal to Baxalta Incorporated (NYSE: BXLT) on July 10, 2015, to combine the companies in an all-stock