* Major U.S. equity indexes slide >1%; transports slammed
* Materials weakest major S&P sector; utilities sole gainer
* Euro STOXX 600 index down >2%
* Dollar, gold, crude, bitcoin decline
* U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield ~1.28%
July 8 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com
JOBLESS CLAIMS: A BLIP ON THE EKG (1100 EDT/1500 GMT)
While Friday's jobs report seemed to imply the labor market is well on the road to wellness, today's jobless claims data suggests the patient remains a bit unsteady on their feet.
The number of U.S. workers filling out first-time applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly ticked up to 373,000 last week, coming in 23,000 higher than consensus.
The Labor Department also revised the previous week's number upward by about 2%.
Volatility in claims data is partly attributable to the early cancellation, in 25 mostly Republican states, of emergency federal unemployment benefits.
And Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, identifies other potential reasons for the bumpy trendline:
"The seasonal adjustments are struggling simultaneously with the July 4 holiday period and the annual automakers’ retooling shutdowns, which can make the headline numbers even more volatile than usual," Shepherdson writes. "The noise will persist through late July, but we have no doubt that the underlying trend will remain downwards."
While the weekly number has remained fairly consistently below the 400,000 mark since late May and has mostly recovered from the stomach churning 6.148 million in April 2020, it still hovers well above the 200,000 to 250,000 associated with healthy labor market churn.
For context, the number of people who filed initial claims last week is just a hair below the population of Cleveland.
Ongoing claims , reported on a one-week lag, eased down to 3.339 million, just a smidgen below analyst expectations.
The better-than-expected 850,000 jobs added in June
, combined with the counter-intuitively positive uptick in unemployment - which suggests discouraged workers returning to the fold - painted a rosy portrait of a labor market recovery.
But recent business surveys, including PMI, show businesses are struggling to find workers to meet booming demand.
Job openings are at an all-time high, and at 9.2 million, suggests that for every unemployed American, there's an unfilled position.
"Laying-off staff now is risky," Shepherdson adds. "Because if business turns out to be better than expected, re-hiring people will be difficult and likely expensive, given the tightness of the labor market."
Wall Street is in a decisively risk-off mood in morning trading, with a broad sell-off dragging all three major U.S. stock indexes into the red.
Economically sensitive small caps , and transports
are being hit especially hard.
(Stephen Culp)
*****
SHORT-COVERING IN BONDS SPOOKS EQUITY MARKETS (1000 EDT/1400 GMT
A sea of red is washing across Wall Street on Thursday as traders covering short-positions in the bond market is forcing the 10-year Treasury yield lower, spooking equity investors.
As a result of the Federal Reserve expected to stand pat on when it will begin to taper bond purchases as indicated Wednesday in the minutes of June's policy-setting meeting, some portfolio managers are changing course and covering short positions in bonds.
While a lower 10-year Treasury yield is typically a signal for technology stocks to rally, waves of fear are sinking all boats on Thursday, said George Ball, chairman of asset manager Sanders Morris Harris in Houston.
"Big tech stocks are pricey and traders are seeking a safer harbor, even if only temporarily," Ball said in a note. "The longer the Federal Reserve remains dovish, the less attractive it is to hold a short position in the 10-year Treasury bond."
The three major U.S. stock indices are lower, as are all 11 subsectors of the S&P 500. So too are the S&P small-cap index
and the Russell 2000 Index .
After hitting a low of 1.25% in early action on Thursday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note is now around 1.29%.
Here is an early trade snapshot:
(Herbert Lash)
*****
NASDAQ TROOPS DESERT, GENERALS LEFT TO DEFEND THE FORT (0900 EDT/1300 GMT)
The Nasdaq Composite ended at another record high on Wednesday, bringing its year-to-date gain to nearly 14%.
However, a Nasdaq breadth measure has been failing to confirm the index's rise, leaving the Composite exposed to a bearish siege.
The Nasdaq 100 , or a cap-weighted index of the 100 largest nonfinancial companies on the Nasdaq, has been outperforming the Composite so far in 2021. The NDX ended Wednesday up about 15% for the year.
With this, however, the Nasdaq 100 Equal-Weighted index
has been lagging, up around 11% year-to-date. \
This NDX - NDXE performance disparity may not be surprising given the average 2021 gain in the Nasdaq's five biggest tech-titans, or generals - Apple , Microsoft , Amazon.com , Alphabet and Facebook <FB.O - is around 24%.
Meanwhile, of note, the Nasdaq's daily Advance/Decline (A/D) Line actually peaked on Feb. 9:
Since then, this breadth measure has struggled. Despite the IXIC's new high in April, the A/D line failed to confirm that push. From there, the Composite quickly reversed and slid more than 8% in just 9 trading days.
The A/D line's most recent thrust in late-June stalled shy of its early-June high, which was also well shy of its February peak. The 13% and 33% IXIC slides in early and late-2020 were both preceded by A/D line divergence.
The A/D line ended Wednesday at its lowest level since May 26. With Nasdaq 100 futures suggesting sharp declines at today's open, the A/D line is likely poised for a greater retreat.
Until the great mass of Nasdaq troops return to the fight, the pressure on the generals to defend the fort may only intensify. In the event, they also raise a white flag, IXIC downside could quickly turn severe.
(Terence Gabriel)
*****
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(Terence Gabriel is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
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