Stocks End Lower, All Eyes On This Morning's Employment Report _work_labor_business_employ_21277_565x377.jpg) Image: Bigstock Stocks closed modestly lower yesterday after bouncing off their intraday lows. All of the major indexes actually turned positive in the afternoon, but could not hold onto those gains. After the close, Apple reported a positive EPS surprise of 5.88%, and a positive sales surprise of 0.53%. That equates to a 5% increase in earnings vs. this time last year, and a -1.39% decrease in sales. Shares were off -2.70% in after-hours trade. Amazon also reported after the close and posted a positive EPS surprise of 85.3%, and a positive sales surprise of 2.16%. That's a triple-digit growth rate in earnings vs. this time last year (which was dragged down by a loss in their Rivian investment back then), and a 10.8% growth rate in sales. In short, sales rose, and expenses dropped. They also guided Q3 to a midpoint of $1.41B, which is 2.04% above the consensus. Shares were up by 10.0% in after-hours trade. Today we'll hear from another 171 companies, with Berkshire Hathaway the biggest name on deck. In other news, yesterday's Weekly Jobless Claims rose by 6,000 to 227,000 vs. the consensus for 225,000. The Challenger Job-Cut Report fell to 23,697 vs. last month's 40,709. The PMI Composite report showed the Composite Index at 52.0, while the Services Index came in at 52.3 vs. last month's 54.6 and views for 52.4. The ISM Services Index came in at 52.7 vs. last month's 53.9 and views for 53.0. A print over 50.0 shows expansion. This marks the 7th month in a row of that. And Factory Orders rose 2.3% m/m vs. last month's upwardly revised 0.4% pace and views for 1.7%. Today we'll get the Employment Situation report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The consensus is calling for 200,000 jobs for the month of July (175,000 in the private sector and 25,000 in the public). The unemployment rate is expected to stay the same at 3.6%. And average hourly earnings are expected to slip to 4.2% vs. last month's 4.4%. All eyes will be on this morning's report, especially after Wednesday's blowout jobs report by ADP which estimated private payrolls grew by 324,000 vs. estimates for 185,000. That significantly larger than expected gain in jobs, in part, led to the sell-off in stocks since then. We all love good news. But you can have too much of a good thing. And some worry that an exceptionally strong jobs report could signal to the Fed that the economy is still too hot for inflation to get down to the 2% target, and that more rate hikes could be needed. It should be noted that the ADP report has a spotty track record at foreshadowing what the Employment Situation Report by the BLS will say. But sometimes they get it right. That report comes out at 8:30 AM ET. Could be a busy day. Best,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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