More weak economic news in the form of a disappointing US manufacturing report sunk stocks early on Monday, but hope that such an economic slow down might stimulate action from the world’s central banks pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to near the unchanged level for the day on Monday. A holiday-shortened session on Tuesday recouped some of Monday’s losses. The markets reopened on Thursday after the 4th of July holiday, but did not behave as expected, with moderate losses experienced by the major indexes despite positive US private-sector job news and the lowering of interest rates by both China and the European Central Bank. The slide accelerated on Friday following the release of a US labor report indicating that fewer jobs than expected had been created in June, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 8.2%.
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