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Point… counterpoint. In apparent contradiction of a report from HR specialist Automatic Data Processing (Nasdaq: ADP) yesterday, which said private employers reduced jobs in America by 33,000 last month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported that total nonfarm payrolls in the U.S. grew by 147,000 in June, and the unemployment rate dropped 20 basis points to 4.1%. Not only do the BLS numbers show jobs growing where the ADP number showed jobs slowing. The BLS number was also stronger than economists’ predicted 110,000 jobs grown in June.
So is U.S. unemployment increasing or decreasing? I guess it really depends on which data you believe.
One place where employment is most definitely falling, though, is Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), which announced last night that it will lay off 9,000 more employees, on top of roughly 2,000 workers laid off in January, a further 6,000 in May, and 300 more last month. In total, the company appears on track to shed about 17,000 workers this year, or roughly 7.5% of its workforce from this time, last year. The company explained in a statement that it is making “organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace.”
As investors attempt to digest all this news, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO) is trading up 0.2% pre-market.
Analyst Calls
French bank BNP Paribas is celebrating U.S. independence day 24 hours early, upgrading shares of S&P 500 components FedEx (NYSE: FDX) and UPS (NYSE: UPS), to outperform and neutral, respectively.
Previously negative on both stocks, the FedEx change is biggest as BNP calls the stock “oversold,” flips from underperform to outperform, and raises its price target to $270 a share. FedEx is outperforming on both volume and yield growth (efficiency), says the analyst. UPS isn’t quite as attractive, but earnings estimates now look more realistic and volume headwinds appear priced into the stock, justifying a neutral rating.
In other news, Needham & Co. upgraded S&P 500 component Meta (NYSE: META) to hold. Although arguably pricey, Needham sees a lot to like in Meta stock, which is “globally scaled, doesn’t pay for content, is software only, ‘free-rides’ on mobile devices, and has closed loop attribution for advertisers.”
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