Thursday, July 6, 2011
This is Mark Vickery, editor at Zacks.com, covering Ahead of Wall Street from Sheraz Mian while he is away this week.
Before the bell this morning, the ADP (ADP) payroll and jobless claims reports hit the headlines, prior to 2nd quarter earnings season beginning next week and tomorrow’s important Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) non-farm payroll report. Both sets of numbers were good news, albeit modestly.
Jobless claims fell by 14,000 last week to 418,000 from a revised 432,000 in the previous week, though that revision was up by 4,000, so the improvement was effectively just 10,000. That said, the 4-week moving average also fell 3,000 to roughly 425,000 — also good news, although better news would to be that figure getting back under the psychologically important 400,000 level in the near future.
Our trusted colleague Dirk van Dijk, CFA will be on hand later to give a detailed analysis of initial and continuing claims, including how to approach certain numbers on a one- or two-week lag.
The ADP number improved notably — 157,000 more jobs were created in June, more than twice what analysts had been expecting for the month after a dreadful May report, which is revised even further down to 36,000.
On both sides, these reports soothe the chafing investors might have been feeling regarding whether the economy was on another steep downward slope. Then again, the positives in these reports may not be stellar enough to captivate the market in this light-volume holiday week.
Mark Vickery
Editor – Zacks.com
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