Morning Market Roundup: 176K Jobs Added in June, Moody’s Eyes More Downgrades, Bank of England & Stimulus
- Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:11am by
Becket Adams
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Here‘s what’s important in the business world this morning:
Jobs: A private survey shows U.S. businesses increased hiring in June, according to payroll provider ADP. The report claims businesses added 176,000 jobs last month. That’s better than the revised total of 136,000 jobs it reported for May.
The report only covers hiring in the private sector and excludes government job growth. The Labor Department will offer a more complete picture of June hiring on Friday.
The ADP survey often deviates sharply from the government report. In May, the Labor Department said employers added just 69,000 jobs, the fewest in a year and nearly half ADP’s estimate.
Meanwhile, fewer people applied for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.
Weekly unemployment benefit applications dropped by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 374,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the fewest since the week of May 19.
Moody’s: Two leading credit rating agencies took steps Thursday toward downgrading Barclays in the wake of a trading scandal that’s seen three senior officials, including chief executive Bob Diamond, hand in their resignations.
Though both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s maintained their ratings on the bank, they lowered their outlooks to “negative” from “stable.” That means that a downgrade of the actual rating is now more likely.
Barclays did receive some respite from another of the three big agencies, Fitch Ratings, which said its view was unaltered by the interest rate scandal and resignations.
Although Fitch said political, regulatory and reputation risks for Barclays and other major global banks had increased, it added “the direct implications (for Barclays), in terms of the size of the regulatory settlements announced last week, are easily manageable given its capital and earnings capacity.”
English Stimulus: The Bank of England on Thursday backed another 50 billion pounds ($78 billion) injection into the ailing British economy as it kept its main interest rate at the record low 0.5 percent.
The move by the Bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee was widely anticipated and raises the amount it is pumping into the British economy since March 2009 to 375 billion pounds. It is the first stimulus since February.
Under the so-called quantitative easing program, the Bank purchases British government bonds, known as gilts, from banks, in the hope that they will use the money to lend to businesses and consumers.
The new purchases are expected to take 4 months to complete.
Low Retail Sales: Shoppers, worried about jobs and the overall economy, pulled back on spending in June, resulting in tepid sales results for many retailers.
As merchants reported their sales early Thursday, many of them disappointed. Costco Wholesale Corp. reported a gain below Wall Street expectations. Target Corp. and Macy’s Inc. also missed estimates. One bright spot was Limited Brands, which reported a robust gain that surpassed Wall Street predictions.
Only a handful of chains representing roughly 13 percent of the U.S. retail industry report monthly sales. Those figures are based on stores open at least a year and are a key measure of retailers’ health because they exclude newly opened and closed stores. Economists watch the numbers because they offer a snapshot of economic activity.
Other areas show a struggling global economy. U.S. manufacturing shrank in June for the first time in nearly three years, and employers have pulled back on hiring. Europe faces a recession and growth has slowed in big countries like China. Worries about jobs sent shoppers’ confidence down in June for the fourth straight month in a row.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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m2matarazzo
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 4:26pmAmazing everytime OBAMA needs it, the numbers get better. He’ll do just about anything to get elected including fudging the numbers.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:29amSeasonal worker increase during the month of June? Get out?!?!? When did that phenomenon begin???
Seriously, the level of complete and utter cluelessness in this country is palpable.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:25amimproving jobs numbers, the GOP must do something about this, they will be bloking any job creating bills to kill any hope of recover, they only care about the election, the America or her citizens.
Report Post »contkmi
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:34amYou’re not very good at math, are you?
Report Post »jblovesAmerica
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:46amlets see-we have 300,000+ folks last week signing up for unemployment-down from the projected 389,000.
Report Post »Good????????
When the monthly number of newjobs is 169,000
Good??????
hold on 300,000 x 4= 1.2 million new unemployment folks
169,000 new jobs
in one month we are 1 million short
Great job Obama-
starman70
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:43amUnfortunately, many if not most of these jobs are seasonal in nature and will be gone after the summer vacation / travel season is over. Temps in hotels/motels, restaurants, lifeguards at beaches, summer help in outlet malls, golf club workers and many other businesses who depend on summer help only.
Odummer and the Dumbocrats will try to make hay out of this BUT come fall, most of these jobs will end and those people will hit the unemployment lines again. Hopefully, they will realize where the real problem lies and fill the halls of the Senate, House of Representatives and especially the presidency with people who will GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY, END OBAMACARE, END THE INSANE OVER REGULATION OF EVERY FACET OF THE ECONOMY AND ALLOW THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY TO ONCE AGAIN SHOW THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT WE CAN BECOME THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD, THE MANUFACTURING GIANT WE ONCE WERE.
Report Post »contkmi
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:37amI don’t think I saw that they adjusted downward the unemployment numbers from last week. Shoddy reporting.
And so we’re still at net job loss. Way to go, Obama.
None of the news is good on this page. Wishing for a president who knew what he was doing. Okay, this one knows he’s destroying the country. I wish we had a president that wanted to build up the country.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:34amThey will revise the numbers down Monday.
Report Post »lylejk
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:29amHowever they season or flavor the numbers, the bottom line is that way too many folk are hurting and the Governments never the solution but always the problem. None of the candidates will do anything to bring jobs here, but BO’s idiotic environmental and policy fiats (regulations) are making things even worse. We won’t be getting any jobs under our current administration. We may or may not do so under a Romney administration, but I will take “may or may not” over the “won’t” any day. :)..
Report Post »Abraham Young
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 10:25amI am thankful for Tom Wood’s Liberty Classroom and its excellent course on Austrian Economics and also thankful for the Mises dot org website and its wonderful collection of educational articles and book.
Economic understanding in this country needs to take a sharp leap upward.
Report Post »encinom
Posted on July 5, 2012 at 11:35amOther than Ron Paul and his nut case followers nobody puts much stock in the flawed Austrian Economics model. The truth is Keynesian economics provides the best model to perdict what will happen and how to improve this economy. Its has been proven right time and again.
The GOP leadership knows that we nee an increased stimulas to jumpstart Americna job growth, but they are determined to put politics ahead of the nation.
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