No longer are America's most important economic institutions politically untouchable.

Why it matters: Econ wonks — those far more comfortable with large datasets than the inner dealings of Washington — won't just question the significance of indicators or policy decisions.

• Now they will wonder whether they can trust if data, or monetary policy conclusions, reflect reality or political motivations.

Driving the news: Trump said last night he would nominate Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• "Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE," Trump said in a Truth Social post.

Details: Antoni, a frequent BLS critic, got his Ph.D. in 2020 from Northern Illinois University and is chief economist at the Heritage Foundation's Hermann Center for the Federal Budget.

• Former White House adviser Steve Bannon had been pushing Antoni as a preferred MAGA candidate for the role.
• Antoni is the second former Heritage economist picked by Trump to lead BLS, after William Beach in 2017. (Beach has recently blasted Trump's firing of BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer.)

What to watch: There is no evidence to suggest the BLS is fudging the data to make Trump appear more or less favorable.

• But the pick raised questions among economists on the right and the left about what qualified Antoni to lead the agency — beyond his support of Trump.

It is also unclear what types of sweeping changes Antoni might implement in the near term, a possibility that could leave Wall Street in the dark for a longer stretch than usual.

• Antoni told "Fox Business" on Monday that the BLS "should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data."

What they're saying: Antoni's "work at Heritage has frequently included elementary errors or nonsensical choices that all bias his findings in the same partisan direction," Stan Veuger, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, wrote in an email to Axios.

Veuger, who also cited Antoni's lack of relevant research or management experience, pointed to a paper from last year co-authored by Antoni.

• It claimed the American economy was in recession since 2022 — which was rebutted thoroughly in a subsequent National Bureau of Economic Research paper.

The big picture: Trump's BLS pick comes days after the White House said Stephen Miran would be appointed to the Federal Reserve board to serve out a term that expires in January.

• Like Antoni, Miran — who is currently the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers — will soon be a top official at an institution he has previously criticized.
• If confirmed, Miran will likely join other Fed governors in calling for rate cuts, as Trump repeated this morning he wants.

The other side: In nominating both Miran and Antoni, Trump has suggested the picks will correct perceived faults at the respective agencies.

• Trump said the July jobs report was "RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME look bad," though he did not offer evidence to support that claim.

The intrigue: The BLS is dealing with plummeting survey response rates and funding cuts that have plagued data collection — key issues Antoni, if confirmed, will face.

• Meanwhile, the Fed is likely to slash interest rates in September with signs of labor market weakness. Some economists question whether that cut might be too late to stop further weakness.

Global tariffs appeared to put upward pressure on inflation, even if a little less so than in June.

Why it matters: Economists might have anticipated a clear trend for evidence that Trump's trade war is (or is not) reigniting inflation.

• Instead, the snapshot is more nuanced: Some categories most likely to reflect tariff-related price hikes saw costs cool relative to June, while others saw costs rise even quicker.

By the numbers: The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2%, ticking down from the 0.3% increase in June, as energy and gasoline prices plummeted.

• But core CPI — the measure watched most closely by policymakers, which excludes food and energy prices — rose 0.3%, up from the previous month's 0.2% increase.
• In the 12 months through July, core CPI rose 3.1%, up from the prior month's 2.9% increase. Overall CPI rose by 2.7%, holding steady from June.

The intrigue: After the biggest spike since the COVID-19 pandemic's onset, core goods' price increases slowed, rising just 0.2%.

• That category includes a range of goods likely to be imported from overseas, including bedroom furniture (where prices rose 1.5% last month) and apparel (where prices were essentially flat on the month).
• Companies are still grappling with tariff-related effects, including how much (or whether) to pass along the cost to consumers. Trump implemented a new round of tariffs on global trading partners earlier this month.

What they're saying: With jobs and inflation data in hand for July, the labor market weakness might stand out as the larger concern for economic policymakers.

• "The concern for the Fed is that with inventory run-down, the tariff-induced boost to inflation is likely to grow over the coming months, meaning that inflationary pressures are likely to pick up just as the Fed starts to resume rate cuts," Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, wrote in a client note.
• Shah says the report gives the green light for the Fed to "lower rates unheeded next month." But "decisions in October, December and beyond may well be more complicated."