For the week ended July 8, 2011

Week in Review: Stocks give up gains as U.S. jobs data disappoint

• Monthly U.S. jobs data disappoint
• Moody's cuts Portugal debt rating to junk; ECB eases Portugal's access to funds
• European leaders continue to sort out Greek bailout details
• European Central Bank hikes rates
• China and Sweden raise rates; Bank of England keeps benchmark unchanged
• NYSE Euronext shareholders approve Deutsche Börse merger
• Facebook teams up with Skype for video calling service

U.S. stocks gave up their gains Friday after news that the U.S. economy barely added jobs for the second month in a row. The report came just as investor optimism was beginning to pick up and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearing a three-year closing high. The disappointing jobs data came as investors eyed an increasingly dire debt crisis in Europe. This week the cost of credit-default swaps insuring European government debt rose to an all-time high after Moody's Investors Service downgraded Portugal's debt to junk status and European leaders battled over the terms of Greece's bailout.

U.S. and global economic news
Monthly U.S. jobs data disappoint

U.S. employers added jobs in June at the slowest pace in nine months, and the unemployment rate climbed unexpectedly. Nonfarm payrolls rose 18,000 last month, less than the most pessimistic forecasts and less than the 25,000 gain in May. The jobless rate increased for the third-straight month, to 9.2% in June from 9.1% in May. The numbers added to concerns about the recovery of the labor market and were especially stunning as they followed a positive report released one day earlier by Automatic Data Processing that showed U.S. private sector jobs rose a more-than-expected 157,000. Other data showed that new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 14,000, to a seasonally adjusted 418,000, for the week ended July 2.

Craig Barton 310-379-9621