Stocks tumble after stronger-than-expected jobs report

·Reporter

Updated Fri, Jul 5, 2019, 7:58 AM

Stocks tumbled across all of the major indices after a stronger-than-expected June jobs report.

As of market close, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) was down 5.41 points, or 0.18%. The Dow (^DJI) fell 43.88 points, or 0.16%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) declined 8.44 points, or 0.10%.

Markets closed well off of their lows of the day. The Dow was down by as much as 216 points, or 0.80%, in early trading before paring most of its losses to close the session.

The June jobs report smashed expectations.

The U.S. economy added 224,000 nonfarm payrolls during June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consensus estimates were for 160,000 positions added during the month, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. May’s figures were revised to 72,000 positions, down from the previously reported 75,000. Employment growth now averages 172,000 per month this year.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.7%. Economists were anticipating that the unemployment rate would hold steady at 3.6%, near five-decade lows. Meanwhile, average-hourly earnings rose 0.2% from May and 3.1% year-over-year. The labor force participation rose to 62.9%.

Sectors with the most notable job gains in June included the professional and business services, health care and transportation and warehousing sectors. Manufacturing employment surged in June, with 17,000 positions created. Economists were predicting 3,000 jobs added in the sector.

“The unemployment rate rose, wage growth is flattening out, there is still residual slack in the jobs market. We tend to think July cuts are still more likely than not,” Neil Dutta, head of U.S. economics at Renaissance Macro Research said in an email to Yahoo Finance.

June’s BLS jobs report comes after a softer-than-expected private-sector employment report. On Wednesday, ADP/Moody’s released its June private sector employment report, which showed that job creation in the private sector grew at a disappointing pace. The U.S. added 102,000 private payrolls in June, while consensus estimates were for 140,000 positions. May’s figures were revised to 41,000 private jobs added, up from the 27,000 that was previously reported.

“Job growth started to show signs of a slowdown,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “While large businesses continue to do well, small businesses are struggling as they compete with the ongoing tight labor market.”

Though the ADP report is not always a reliable indicator of what the BLS report will illustrate, it does provide a bit of insight into the health of employment in the U.S.

Furthermore, U.S. job cuts in the first half of this year are at their highest total in a decade, according to a new report from Challenger Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm.

U.S. employers announced that they will be cutting 140,577 jobs in the second quarter, according to Challenger. Though that figure is down 26% from the first quarter, it is a 34% jump from last year. Those additional job cuts in the second quarter brings the first-half total this year to 330,987, which is a 35% increase from the same period last year.

June’s much stronger-than-expected report indicates that perhaps the U.S. economy isn’t deteriorating as meaningfully as many had feared. “Release of the June jobs report comes at a potentially critical juncture for the U.S. economy,” Mark Hamrick, Bankrate.com’s senior economic analyst, told Yahoo Finance. “For workers, business leaders, and ultimately, consumers and investors, downside risks are growing.”

A trader works ahead the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on June 18, 2019 located at Wall Street in New York City. (Photo by Johannes EISELE / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images) — A trader works ahead the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Photo by JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images.

STOCKS: Deutsche Bank to slash jobs; Samsung issues profit warning; U.K. watchdog reviews Amazon’s investment in Deliveroo

More than 20,000 employees at Deutsche Bank (DB) might be losing their jobs, in what is poised to be the biggest job cut program in the company’s history. The job cuts will probably go beyond the equities and interest-rate derivatives trading branches. For over two decades, Deutsche Bank has been attempting to cement its presence in the U.S. as a Wall Street behemoth; however, the European bank was struggling to rake in profits in the U.S.

South Korean tech giant Samsung (005930.KS) issued a profit warning and stated that continued weakness in demand for its memory chips will likely weigh on its profits. Samsung expects its second-quarter operating profit to tumble 56% from last year. That would mark the third consecutive quarter of declines. Despite the downbeat warning, analysts were actually expecting worse ahead of the company’s quarterly report at the end of July.

Amazon’s (AMZN) investment into Deliveroo is under scrutiny by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA said it has reasonable grounds to believe that Amazon and Deliveroo have “ceased to be distinct.” The two companies will be require to operate independently for the time being, while the CMA decides whether or not to launch an investigation.