Wall Street is trading lower by over a percent on major stock indices today, ending a four day uptrend. The culprit seems to be weak jobs data from ADP Employer Services, which stated that the economy only added 38,000 workers to payrolls last month. To give an idea of just how disappointing the report was, economists were expecting an increase of four times that number. Compounding the economy’s challenges is data from the Institute for Supply Management’s factory index showing U.S. manufacturing expanded at the slowest pace since September 2009. But stocks weren’t the only decliners today as commodities and the U.S. dollar also showed some pullback.
Major U.S. Stock Indicies
DJIA: 12,382.06 (-1.50 percent)
S&P 500: 1,325.68 (-1.45 percent)
NASDAQ: 2799.44 (-1.26 percent)
Russell 2000: 833.53 (-1.74 percent)
In other news:
- If investors want to know the one person behind the entire mortgage securities crisis that caused the global financial meltdown, here he is: Fabrice Tourre of Goldman Sachs (GS). It was just him and no one else. [NY Times]
- Shareholders have approved Alpha Natural’s (ANR) $7.1 billion takeover of Massey Energy (MEE). [WSJ]
- Mitt Romney on Barack Obama: He’s un-American and completely in over his head with this whole economy thing. [Economist]
- A look at CEO’s making $1 salaries. Investors of companies like Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Citigroup (C) and Whole Foods Market (WFMI) should take note. [Fortune]
- Las Vegas continues to hemorrhage but Macau is coming along swimmingly for casino stocks like Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and MGM Resorts (MGM).
Check back as more news develops.
