U.S. EIA weekly natural gas stocks rose 330 Bcf in the week to July 31, versus 300 Bcf expected and 280 Bcf in the prior week.

PBOC conducted a 7-day reverse repo today: bids 10 bln yuan, allotment 10 bln yuan, rate 1.40%, unchanged from the prior operation.

U.S. initial jobless claims rose 1,000 to 199,000 in the week ended Aug. 1, below the 202,000 consensus, keeping labor-market resilience intact. Claims have fallen sharply since an early-June spike, though some of the decline may reflect seasonal-adjustment challenges over the summer. Separately, announced corporate layoffs in July fell to a two-year low, concentrated in the tech sector; there is no sign yet that AI infrastructure build-out is triggering broad job losses, and layoffs remained low despite oil-price shocks from fighting involving the U.S., Israel and Iran.