A BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED jobs report failed to hearten investors this morning. Premarket indicators pointed to a weak opening in the equity market.
The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate remained at 4.5% in June, rather than ticking up to 4.7% as economists had expected. And businesses (excluding the farm sector) slashed 42,000 jobs in July, an improvement over the previous month's 93,000 loss. Economists had been anticipating payrolls would shrink by 38,000 following an originally reported 114,000 June decline. Meantime, average hourly earnings rose by another 0.3%, just as expected, putting them up 4.4% from a year ago.
"We feel this (report) is consistent with the idea that the second quarter was probably the worst and that we will get firming in the third quarter with a pick up in growth before the end of the year," wrote Merrill Lynch chief economist Bruce Steinberg in response.
The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate remained at 4.5% in June, rather than ticking up to 4.7% as economists had expected. And businesses (excluding the farm sector) slashed 42,000 jobs in July, an improvement over the previous month's 93,000 loss. Economists had been anticipating payrolls would shrink by 38,000 following an originally reported 114,000 June decline. Meantime, average hourly earnings rose by another 0.3%, just as expected, putting them up 4.4% from a year ago.
"We feel this (report) is consistent with the idea that the second quarter was probably the worst and that we will get firming in the third quarter with a pick up in growth before the end of the year," wrote Merrill Lynch chief economist Bruce Steinberg in response.
