Employment Report

The stock-market softness that began last week accelerated Monday as investors finally got a chance to react to Friday's disappointing employment report. As of 9:20 a.m. Pacific, the Dow Jones industrial average was off 128.62 points, or 1%, to 12,931.68 - dropping the blue-chip index back below 13,000. The selling put the Dow on track for its second triple-digit loss in the last three trading days and only its third such decline this year. Other market barometers are also down.

WASHINGTON -- The pace of hiring accelerated in the final month of last year, boosted by solid gains in construction, professional services and trade and transportation, according to a closely followed private survey. The report released Thursday by Automatic Data Processing indicates that the private sector added 215,000 jobs in December, up from a revised 148,000 in November. The ADP calculations, which are based on about half a million U.S. private establishments for which it processes payrolls, suggest that job growth was considerably stronger last month than what many analysts have forecast.

U.S. stocks closed mixed but mostly higher Thursday, as bond yields rose ahead of today's January employment report. Elsewhere, oil prices gained after the White House ordered more troops into the Middle East. Silver continued to surge, while the dollar eased again. In Asia, most stock markets continued to rebound. On Wall Street the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 12.46 points to 8,117.25 after recovering from a midday deficit of 57 points.

SACRAMENTO - California's unemployment rate fell to 10.2% in September from 10.6% in August, posting one of the biggest drops of any state for the month. The decline took the rate to its lowest level since March 2009, during the worst recession in half a century. It follows the announcement of a reduction in the national unemployment rate to 7.8% in September from 8.1% the prior month. But the employment report released Friday has a less rosy side: The California Employment Development Department reported that only 8,500 net new payroll jobs were created statewide in September.

Stocks are set to churn sideways to higher this week as Wall Street digests a pile of key economic data. But increasing tensions between India and Pakistan could throw a wrench in the works. The Street will pick apart reports on the giant U.S. manufacturing sector, the services sector, car sales and the crucial monthly jobs data, all covering the month of May, plus April construction spending. For the next five trading sessions, investors have slim pickings from the earnings basket.

The stock market went nowhere in a quiet session Thursday, bogging down after the rally of the past two days. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which gained 27.70 points in trading on Tuesday and Wednesday, slipped back 1.69 to 1,781.21. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange amounted to 128.05 million shares, down from 143.55 million the day before.

The Dow shot back above 10,000 and other stock indexes also surged to new peaks Monday after a report showed the U.S. economy is growing steadily with little inflation. The technology-oriented Nasdaq composite index rose to a record for the first time in two months, and the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the second time in a week, besting its previous mark. The broader blue-chip Standard & Poor's 500 index also reached a new high.

SACRAMENTO - California's unemployment rate fell to 10.2% in September from 10.6% in August, posting one of the biggest drops of any state for the month. The decline took the rate to its lowest level since March 2009, during the worst recession in half a century. It follows the announcement of a reduction in the national unemployment rate to 7.8% in September from 8.1% the prior month. But the employment report released Friday has a less rosy side: The California Employment Development Department reported that only 8,500 net new payroll jobs were created statewide in September.

Stocks gained in early trading Wednesday on Wall Street after a better-than-expected employment report and ahead of a Federal Reserve announcement. But major U.S. stock indexes lost some ground following a report by the Institute for Supply Management showed manufacturing declined last month. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 19 points, or 0.2%, to 13,028, about an hour after the opening bell. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was up only 0.5 point, essentially flat at 1,380.

Blue chip stocks shot up Friday morning, buoyed by news of slower job growth last month, but later lost the rally on a wave of program selling amid fears of a possible recession. The Dow Jones industrial index closed down 2.94 points at 2,381.96, ending the week with a 36.84-point loss and extending a losing streak to six days. But the broader market ended higher. Advances led declines 796 to 609 in active New York Stock Exchange volume of 180.81 million shares. Volume was 816.24 million shares for the week.

WASHINGTON - The White House used Friday's largely positive jobs report to make the case for sticking to the president's economic policies and rejecting calls for a new path.  “While there is more work that remains to be done, today's employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to heal from the wounds inflicted by the worst downturn since the Great Depression," wrote Alan B. Krueger, chairman of the Council of...

ORANGE CITY, Iowa - As the presidential candidates returned to the campaign trail, Mitt Romney issued a double-barreled critique of his rival's speech at the Democratic convention and Friday's weak jobs report, citing both as evidence that President Obama is over his head on economic issues. At a rally Friday afternoon in Iowa, Romney said he had read the president's acceptance speech and found it to be “extraordinarily disappointing.” The former Massachusetts governor charged that Obama had not sufficiently addressed the economic challenges that Americans are facing.

Stocks were choppy but essentially flat in early trading on Wall Street after a better-than-expected report showing a decrease in jobless claims last week. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2 points, essentially flat at 13,177 shortly after the opening bell Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up half a point to 1,403. The Nasdaq gained 7 points, or 0.2%, to 3,018. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims decreased by 6,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 361,000.

Stocks dipped in early trading Wednesday, following European markets lower after the French and British central banks reported slowing growth. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 30 points, or 0.2%, to 13,138 shortly after the opening bell on Wall Street. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index slid 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,398. The Nasdaq was down 9 points, or 0.3%, to 3,007. Shortly before U.S. markets opened, the Labor Department reported that U.S. workers' productivity increased an annualized 1.6% in the second quarter, compared with a 0.5% decrease in the first quarter.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. economy broke out of its hiring slump last month with the biggest net gain in jobs since February, easing fears that the slow and bumpy recovery was falling off track. Employers added 163,000 jobs in July, more than double the average of the prior three months. But as welcomed as that acceleration was, analysts still considered the pace of job growth just middling. And it did little for the nation's unemployment rate, which ticked up a notch last month to 8.3%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

Stocks gained in early trading Wednesday on Wall Street after a better-than-expected employment report and ahead of a Federal Reserve announcement. But major U.S. stock indexes lost some ground following a report by the Institute for Supply Management showed manufacturing declined last month. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 19 points, or 0.2%, to 13,028, about an hour after the opening bell. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was up only 0.5 point, essentially flat at 1,380.

Stocks were choppy but essentially flat in early trading on Wall Street after a better-than-expected report showing a decrease in jobless claims last week. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 2 points, essentially flat at 13,177 shortly after the opening bell Thursday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up half a point to 1,403. The Nasdaq gained 7 points, or 0.2%, to 3,018. The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims decreased by 6,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 361,000.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. jobs engine sputtered for the third straight spring, raising the stakes in the presidential election and auguring grim consequences for millions of workers and a world economy already grappling with Europe's woes and a weakening in China. The May employment report - showing the unemployment rate rising to 8.2% and a third straight month of faltering job growth - prompted analysts to lower their forecasts for hiring for the rest of this year. It also increased pressure on the Federal Reserve to take new steps to spur economic activity.