Faced with Moody’s potential downgrade of Spain’s credit rating and disappointing data within The ADP National Employment Report® investors sold more than they bought Wednesday resulting in yet another down day for U.S. markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 96.81 points to close at 9,773.49. The S&P 500 was down 10.53 points at 1,030.71 and the Nasdaq dropped 25.94 points to close at 2,109.24.
Former job reports for the month of May included inflated numbers that were the result of the hiring of temporary U.S. Census workers. The ADP employment report removed the jobs opened for the census. While this correction was expected and lower employment numbers were anticipated, the actual data was still less than economists had predicted. Combining this disappointment with the reduced consumer confidence figures released yesterday and the Dow was pushed down further to the lowest closing since November of 2009.
European markets fared better with all three managing small gains. Asian markets, like those in the U.S. were down which is a surprise since China and Taiwan managed to finalize a trade agreement this week that will allow Taiwan’s GDP to grow more than 4%.
