Yesterday, ADP’s National Employment report gave investors good news when it announced that the private sector had added 42,000 jobs between June and July. Today’s unemployment claims press release issued by the Department of Labor negated the good news by offering an adjusted figure for initial unemployment claims during the week of July 26th. The adjusted figure increased the number of initial claims from 460,000 to 479,000. This jump makes the unemployment numbers for the last week of July the highest seen since April. This also increased the four week moving average to 458,500. You can access the full report here.
As a result of this weakened employment data, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.45 points to 10,674.98. The Nasdaq lost 10.51 points to close at 2,293.06 and the S&P 500 fell 1.43 points to 1,125.81. The continual ups and downs of the Dow this week have erased any mid-week gains, but it has managed to retain Monday’s 208 point gain.
European and Asian markets were mixed as Chinese officials discussed conducting tough stress tests on the country’s banks. Tests recently conducted on Europe’s banks showed a relatively strong system.
