Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Markets Sell Off on Job Cuts Data; Dow Down 28 Points

This Dow Jones Industrial Average is not liking the mixed news on job layoffs from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas and from payroll processor ADP (ADP) this morning, falling 28 points to 10,268, reversing an earlier gain, while the S&P 500 is off 6 points at 1,097.

Challenger reported 71,482 layoffs in January, a big jump up from 40,194 layoffs in December, with much of that being in the retail segment, probably largely a result of post-holiday cuts at stores and such.

ADP, meantime, put out its national private employment report showing a drop of just 22,000 in January, way down from the 61,000 layoffs in December, as revised, and the lowest level in layoffs since February of 2008, the firm said.

Meantime, the Institute for Supply Chain Management’s non-manufacturing activity index for January rose to 50.5% from 49.8% in December, an indication the services sector is expanding, the Institute said. The new orders index rose 2.7 percentage points to 54.7%.

The 50.5 reading was below a Bloomberg survey of 51, the news service reported.

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