Jobs Data: Employment Situation Report & Weekly Jobless Claims

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Jobs Data

Employment Situation Report

Unemployment edged higher to 9.5%, compared against the economists' consensus forecast for 9.6% and up modestly from the 9.4% reported in May. However, nonfarm payrolls shed 467K jobs on net in June, versus a much lower expectation for 350K, based economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Labor Department reported that job losses were widespread across major industry sectors, including large declines in manufacturing, professional and business services, and construction. Some 136K jobs were lost in manufacturing alone in June, likely driven by the auto sector.

Double digit unemployment seems a formality at this point, as new benefits filers continue to pile on to the massive number of already jobless. At this point, 7.2 million more Americans are unemployed than was the case at the start of the recession in December of 2007. However, there have been some signs of hope here, with the green shoot of a continuing claim filers improvement a few weeks back. Another positive note came in today's report, as the "underemployed," or those working part-time jobs who would prefer full-time work, was little changed in June.

Long term unemployed folks, or those looking for work for 27 months or more, increased by 433K, to 4.4 million. This illustrates how much more competitive the job market is today versus recent times. Three out of ten of the unemployed have been that way for 27 months or more, weighing on spending and distressing a significant portion of our population.

Weekly Jobless Claims

Weekly Initial Jobless Claims were reported at 614K this week, versus expectation for 619K. That compared against last week's shedding of 627K jobs.

Factory Orders

May Factory Orders are due at 10:00 a.m., with the consensus looking for a monthly jump of 1.4%, compared to an April increase of 0.7%. Durable goods orders soared 1.8% in May and offer insight into a good figure here.

Natural Gas Report

The EIA reports on Natural Gas stocks at 10:30. Much has been said of late regarding the imbalance between natural gas and crude oil pricing, and we will very likely dedicate a few upcoming reports on the energy space. Last week's notation of Nat Gas showed a net increase of 94 Bcf. Stocks were greatly above both the seasonal and five-year average levels, thus giving good cause to natural gas' doldrums.

EPS Reports

The day before the holiday produces a handful of EPS reporters. Look for news from Acuity Brands (NYSE: AYI), Methode Electronics (NYSE: MEI), MSC Industrial Direct (NYSE: MSM) and MSCI, Inc. (NYSE: MXB).

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