Wall Street looked set to end the month on a down note following the release of a weaker-than-expected reading on the jobs market from consultancy ADP.
But at least one top-ranked economist said that the ADP report told investors nothing of what they should expect from Friday’s official jobs data.
At 1609 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.28% or 90.12 points to 31,700.13, while the S&P 500 was dipping by 0.25% or 10.66 points to 3,976.23.
The technology heavy Nasdaq Composite was drifting 0.31% lower or 38.28 points alongside to 11,843.33.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was edging up by one basis point to 3.118%, while the US dollar spot index was drifting lower by 0.2% and at 108.55.
According to ADP, private sector payrolls rose by 132,000 in August, missing a consensus forecast of 300,000.
However, for Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, the lack of clarity around the historical data provided by ADP meant that “the July undershoot therefore tells us nothing about the likely direction or size of the error in August.
“We’re sticking to our forecast that private payrolls rose by 350K, based on the strong Homebase data for the official survey week.”
Market News International’s factory sector Purchasing Managers’ Index inched up from a reading of 52.1 for July to 52.2 in August (consensus: 51.3).
In equity markets, shares of Snapchat parent Snap were up 8% despite a report that the company was planning to lay off 20% of its employees as it looked to cut costs.
According to The Verge, the layoffs – which Snap had been planning for the past several weeks – were set to begin on Wednesday and hit some departments harder than others.
For example, the team working on ways for developers to build mini apps and games inside Snapchat will be severely impacted, sources told The Verge. Social mapping app Zenly, which was bought by Snap in 2017, will also see deep cuts.
Dow Jones – Risers
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $242.76 1.52%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.71 1.51%
McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) $254.28 0.31%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $62.27 0.19%
Unitedhealth Group Inc. (UNH) $523.73 0.17%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $263.19 0.08%
Travelers Company Inc. (TRV) $163.58 0.07%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $162.53 0.06%
Walmart Inc. (WMT) $132.56 0.06%
Dowdupont Inc. (DWDP) $0.00 0.00%
Dow Jones – Fallers
Nike Inc. (NKE) $106.10 -1.63%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $31.82 -1.38%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $289.66 -1.17%
Salesforce.Com Inc. (CRM) $157.89 -1.11%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $159.25 -0.85%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $42.24 -0.68%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $44.96 -0.63%
Boeing Co. (BA) $161.20 -0.62%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) $331.80 -0.55%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $111.96 -0.42%
S&P 500 – Risers
Meta Platforms Inc. (META) $164.63 4.75%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $227.30 3.01%
Baxter International Inc. (BAX) $58.10 2.87%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $94.29 2.72%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $417.34 1.91%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $63.58 1.72%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $242.76 1.52%
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA) $35.71 1.51%
Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) $36.24 1.44%
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) $665.18 1.42%
S&P 500 – Fallers
PVH Corp. (PVH) $57.66 -8.24%
HP Inc (HPQ) $29.12 -6.37%
Gap Inc. (GPS) $9.16 -5.27%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $66.36 -4.41%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $71.89 -4.01%
Mosaic Company (MOS) $55.12 -3.88%
Macy’s Inc. (M) $17.17 -3.59%
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) $91.09 -3.56%
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) $83.91 -3.49%
Nordstrom Inc. (JWN) $17.15 -3.46%
Nasdaq 100 – Risers
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) $144.92 5.25%
Meta Platforms Inc. (META) $164.63 4.75%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $227.30 3.01%
JD.com, Inc. (JD) $63.28 2.87%
Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) $94.29 2.72%
NetEase Inc. Ads (NTES) $88.86 2.20%
Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) $417.34 1.91%
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) $63.58 1.72%
Trip.com Group Limited (TCOM) $25.92 1.55%
Amgen Inc. (AMGN) $242.76 1.52%
Nasdaq 100 – Fallers
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $66.36 -4.41%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $150.11 -2.95%
Western Digital Corp. (WDC) $42.17 -2.74%
Qurate Retail Inc. (QRTEA) $3.12 -2.04%
Lam Research Corp. (LRCX) $433.99 -1.96%
Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) $92.85 -1.77%
Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) $497.49 -1.76%
QUALCOMM Inc. (QCOM) $132.13 -1.70%
KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC) $341.55 -1.61%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) $273.27 -1.60%
