The last several weeks have been typical low-volume, low volatility summer trading in both the equity and bond markets.  The 10-year note yield drifted steadily lower during July, falling 24 basis points to end the month at 1.22%.  Economic data confirmed that the economy continues to expand at an above trend pace and the “transitory” price hikes continue to bedevil consumers.  The most anticipated event of the month was the post-FOMC press conference.  Unfortunately, Chairman Powell effectively repeated his comments from the previous press conference with scant details on reversing their easy money policy.  One point of clarification, however, is that he doesn’t want to begin tapering open market purchases until the unemployment rate falls closer to where it was before the COVID outbreak.