Wednesday's session was marked by ADP job figures and Trade Balance data. Private sector employment increased by 185,000 jobs from June to July, missing predictions on increase by 216,000. "July employment growth was slower than June, but is still in line with what we have seen since the first of the year,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP. “Notably, large businesses with more than 500 employees had their strongest job gains since last December and were almost double the June number.” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said.
The goods and services deficit was $43.8 billion in June, up $2.9 billion from $40.9 billion in May, revised. Analysts were anticipating smaller deficit of $42.9 billion. June exports were $188.6 billion, $0.1 billion less than May exports. June imports were $232.4 billion, $2.8 billion more than May imports. The June increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $2.9 billion to $63.5 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of less than $0.1 billion to $19.7 billion.
Thursday's US session brought Unemployment Claims figures. In the week ending August 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 270,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 267,000. Analysts were anticipating increase of 6,000. The 4-week moving average was 268,250, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 274,750. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.7% for the week ending July 25, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.
Friday's session was marked by NFP figures. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 215,000 in July, compared with an average monthly gain of 246,000 over the prior 12 months. Analysts were anticipating increase by 222,000. In July, job gains occurred in retail trade, health care, professional and technical services, and financial activities. In July, both the unemployment rate (5.3%) and the number of unemployed persons (8.3 million) were unchanged, in line with market predictions.
Next week markets will be looking at:
Retail Sales (Thursday 14:30)
Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)
PPI (Friday 14:30)
Industrial Production (Friday 15:15)
Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment (Friday 16:00)
