Stock Market News for July 6, 2010 - Market News

A disappointing monthly jobs report sent stocks lower on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average recording its seventh straight-session decline.  Consumer discretionary and financial shares led the declining issues on recovery-related worries. 

Although the unemployment rate dipped to 9.5%, the unexpected drop in nonfarm payrolls painted a lousy picture and further ebbed investors’ confidence amid worries a double-dip recession may be forthcoming.  The government said private sector employers added 83,000 jobs during the month, below expectations.    

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 9 points, or 0.5%, to 2,091.79 while the S&P 500 index closed down 5 points, or 0.5%, at 1,022.58.  On the week, the Nasdaq dropped 5.9% and the S&P 500 index fell 5%.  The Dow average fared relatively better, with a 4.5% weekly fall.  The drop sent the Dow average and the Nasdaq to their fresh 8-month lows.  The S&P fell to its 9-month low Friday. 

The calendar of activities this week is relatively light.  With double-dip worries and fears of a stalling recovery holding forte, this week’s June same-store sales report will be parsed for signs of economic recovery as consumers remain vigilant.  Family Dollar FDO is the only S&P component due to report this week, before Alcoa AA kicks off the earnings season on July 12.  Family Dollar is expected to report earnings of 76 cents a share, compared with 62 cents in the year-ago period.

Ahead of the long weekend, volume declined considerable on Friday as only 540 million shares exchanged hands on the New York Stock Exchange where declining issues beat those that rose in price by a two-to-one margin.  Crude prices fell 8.5% on the week, ending at $72.14, a 9.1% year-to-date drop.  Copper prices have shed 12.9% so far in 2010, ending the week at $2.9160.

The decline was broad based, with 27 of the 30 Dow components closing the day in the red.  Leading the Dow lower were Caterpillar CAT, Chevron CVX, IBM IBM, JPMorgan Chase JPM, 3M MMM and Verizon Communications VZ.

Today's global markets have been widely positive, with Asian markets leading the way.  The Nikkei closed up 0.8%; the Hang Seng 1.2%; and the Shanghai Composite 1.9%.  Traders, looking for bargains, sent European shares up 2%.  The US premarket futures suggesting a higher open.