REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Waiting.
First, the scoreboard:
- Dow: 14,939.6, +8.8, +0.0%
- S&P 500: 1,654.8, +1.8, +0.1%
- NASDAQ: 3,659.0, +10.0, +0.2%
And now, the top stories:
- Two reports this morning made everyone feel a bit giddy about the U.S. job market.
- Initial weekly jobless claims fell to 323,000 from 332,000 a week ago. This was lower than the 330,000 expected by economists. The four-week moving average has fallen to 328,500, down from 331,500 a week ago. This is the lowest level since October 2007.
- The August ISM services index unexpectedly jumped to 58.6 in August from 56.0 in July. This was largely driven by the employment sub-index, which surged to 57.0 from 53.2 in July.
- "While the ISM employment measures are not the best m/m indicator of employment growth, they are certainly consistent with a strengthening trend," said UBS's Drew Matus. "Taken with the continued improvement in jobless claims along with other recent positive labor-related data, we have pushed up our payroll forecast for August. We now expect 210k on payrolls (cons: 180k), up from our earlier 170k estimate."
- The ADP's employment change survey was a bit lighter than expected. ADP estimated 176,000 jobs were added in August, which compared to economists' estimate for a 184,000 read.
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