Stocks Give Back Some Gains After Weak Economic Data Are Released

By Mark Memmott

Published May 2, 2012 at 11:04 AM CDT

After hitting its highest mark since December 2007 on Tuesday because of a bullish report about the health of the manufacturing sector in April, the Dow Jones industrial average is right now down about 45 points (less than 0.3 percent) because of negative news about hiring and manufacturing.

There was the news earlier that the ADP National Employment Report estimates there were only 119,000 jobs added to private payrolls last month. And then there was word from the Census Bureau that orders for manufactured goods fell 1.5 percent in March from February.

Now, many will be looking ahead to Friday's employment/unemployment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott

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