Jobs Report Shows Improvement

ANOTHER MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION - JOBS NUMBERS IMPROVING: The market was flat heading into the 8:30 release of the July jobs report; you can call it the calm before the storm. After the Nonfarm Payrolls were announced with a loss of 247,000 jobs the market spiked higher immediately. The Dow futures shot up about 60 points and the S&P futures rallied 8 points.

Here is a breakdown of the numbers:

• Average hourly earnings up 0.2%
• Nonfarm Payrolls down 247,000 - better than expectations
• The smallest decline since August 2008
• May was revised from a loss of 322,000 to 303,000
• June was revised from a loss of 467,000 to 443,000
• Average hourly workweek 33.1 vs. 33.0 in June
• Factory jobs down 52,000 in July vs. 131,000 in June
• July Unemployment Rate unexpectedly fell to 9.4% vs. 9.5% in June
• Government added 7000 jobs in July
• Construction lost 76,000 jobs in July
• Retail lost 44,000 jobs in July
• Service-Producing sector lost 118,000 jobs in July
• US Dollar Index up 0.5% after the news
• Oil down slightly after the news