U.S. firms cut a surprising 39,000 jobs in September, data from ADP Employer Services showed, after a revised increase of 10,000 jobs from July to August. The news renewed fears that the economic recovery, already marginal, would stall and possibly reverse course.
The ADP report covers only private sector jobs; public sector hiring and firing are not included in the figures. But because the federal government is in the process of shedding temporary 2010 Census workers, the final figures for September are likely to be worse than ADP's.
The construction and manufacturing sectors were hardest hit, while the service industry saw modest gains.
In addition, experts from the Federal Reserve to Goldman Sachs are forecasting a year of modest, "fairly bad" economic conditions. And as conditions appear to worsen, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is making more and more positive statements in favor of further quantitative easing.
Despite the largely negative news, stock index futures were mixed on Wednesday morning – Dow Jones Industrial Average index futures gained 14 points to 10,878 at 9:08 a.m. EST, while Nasdaq 100 index futures slipped 0.5 points to 2,018.
S&P 500 futures saw a gain of 1.1 points to 1,155.8, and across the Atlantic, the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 index futures rose 25 points to 2,770.
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