Barefoot Investor: US stocks jumped ahead of June jobs report

Stocks soared as positive labor data bolstered investors' confidence ahead of Friday's June jobs report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 94 points, or 0.8%, at 12,720. The S&P 500 was higher by 13 points, or 1%, at 1352, and the Nasdaq was ahead by 35 points, or 1.2%, at 2869.

Automatic Data Processing gave the market a welcome surprise with news that companies added 157,000 payrolls in June, surpassing expectations for job gains of 60,000, according to Briefing.com. The level was well ahead of May's private-sector job growth of 36,000 in May.
In another sign that employment conditions are improving, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 418,000 in the week ended July 2, which was a bigger decline than market estimates for claims to fall by 4,000 to 425,000 from last week's initially reported level of 428,000.

Both releases were closely watched by the market in anticipation of Friday's June employment report from the U.S. government. Economists expect to see that the economy added 80,000 jobs in June after adding 54,000 in May, according to Briefing.com. The unemployment rate, however, is projected to remain unchanged at 9.1%.(The Street)

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