Trade was mixed with five of the 10 sectors within S&P 500 posting a gain. Cyclical sectors energy (+0.8%), tech (+1.6%) and materials (+1.3%) all outperformed. Telecom (-1.3%) and financials (-1.1%), underperformed as they have year-to-date (telecom is up 4.4% and financials are down 3.1% for the year).
Retailers outperformed following solid same-store sales reports. Target (TGT) advanced 6.6%, Kohl's (KSS) climbed 6.5% and Abercrombie (ANF) gained 6.3%.
The main item this week was the employment report for July, which disappointed on every front.
Nonfarm payrolls rose a meager 18,000 (Briefing.com consensus +80,000); nonfarm private payrolls increased 57,000 (Briefing.com consensus +110,000); the unemployment rate rose to 9.2% (Briefing.com consensus 9.1%); the average workweek dipped 0.1 to 34.3 hours (Briefing.com consensus 34.4); and hourly earnings were flat (Briefing.com consensus +0.2%).
Separately, nonfarm payrolls for April and May were revised lower, with the former month going from 232,000 to 217,000 and the latter month going from 54,000 to 25,000.
The "real" unemployment rate, which factors for the total unemployed plus marginally attached workers and persons working part-time for economic reasons, jumped from 15.8% in May to 16.2% in June. That is tantamount to saying one in six workers over the age of 16 is either unemployed or underemployed.
In overseas news, Moody's downgraded Portugal's debt to junk status and the People's Bank of China again raised its one year lending rate Asian markets ended the week higher while European shares posted modest losses.
In commodity action, gold prices rallied 4.1% as the CRB Index gained 2.0%. The dollar also advanced--climbing 1.8% against the euro and 1.1% against a basket of currencies.
| Index | Started Week | Ended Week | Change | % Change | YTD % |
| DJIA | 12582.70 | 12657.20 | 74.50 | 0.6 | 9.3 |
| Nasdaq | 2816.03 | 2859.81 | 43.78 | 1.6 | 7.8 |
| S&P 500 | 1339.67 | 1343.80 | 4.13 | 0.3 | 6.9 |
| Russell 2000 | 840.04 | 852.57 | 12.53 | 1.5 | 8.8 |






