Good morning and welcome to AS USA's live financial blog! This week, we will be awaiting the  Consumer Price Index report  that will come out on Thursday for the latest inflation update . Gas prices are up this summer as heat waves affect oil refinery operations. Latest figures from the Labor Department show that  187,000 jobs were added in July , while the  unemployment rate went down to 3.5%. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called Fitch Ratings' downgrade of the main US credit rating "entirely unwarranted" because it  ignored the country's economic strength .

https://en.as.com/latest_news/us-financial-news-live-updates-august-social-security-payments-snap-benefits-student-loan-forgiveness-n/

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