BLBG: Commodities Trim Gain, Treasuries Pare Decline on U.S. Jobs Report
Global stocks, U.S. index futures and commodities pared gains, while Treasuries trimmed their decline, as an industry jobs report spurred concern the employment market is struggling to recover.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in September rose 0.2 to 1,037 at 8:34 a.m. in New York after rallying 0.9 percent earlier. The MSCI World Index of 24 developed nations was little changed, wiping out a 0.3 percent advance. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose less than one basis point to 2.96 percent after climbing as much as four basis points earlier. The S&P GSCI Index of commodities increased less than 0.1 percent after rallying 0.9 percent.
The pullback in riskier assets came as ADP Employer Services said companies in the U.S. expanded payrolls by 13,000 in June, lower than the 60,000 median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Earlier gains in stocks, U.S. futures and commodities came after European lenders sought less central-bank funding than investors had estimated, easing concern the region’s debt crisis is worsening.
“Lame is the first word that comes to mind,” Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, said in a note to clients about the ADP jobs data. “Bottom line, relative to the monthly increase in the labor force that is needed to be absorbed by job growth, we are in the midst of a 3rd straight jobless recovery.
The S&P 500 plunged 3.1 percent yesterday to its lowest level since Oct. 30, on concern over weakening growth in China and a slump in American consumer confidence. The decline pushed the gauge to its cheapest valuation relative to expected company earnings since March 2009, when an 80 percent rally followed.
The S&P 500 is valued at 12.8 times projected profits, according to Bloomberg data, after falling 11 percent this quarter. The index has tumbled 14 percent from this year’s high on April 23 on concern a sovereign-debt crisis in Europe and China’s moves to slow the world’s largest emerging economy will dent global growth.
