White Nike sneakers on June 26, 2025 in Paris, France.<\/p>\n
Edward Berthelot | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images<\/p>\n
If I had to choose between having a job and paying less for Nike shoes, you’d see me run barefoot to the office. Wednesday’s market moves, however, suggested that Wall Street preferred the cheaper shoes. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The U.S. economy lost private sector jobs in June, the first time hiring had contracted since March 2023, according to payrolls processing firm ADP. It’s even more startling because a Dow Jones survey of economists had pegged job numbers to expand by 100,000.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his social media site Truth Social that the country had made a trade deal with Vietnam, in which the Southeast Asian nation will face a 20% duty on imports to America. That means companies that rely heavily on Vietnam for manufacturing, such as Nike<\/a>, Crocs<\/a> and Lululemon<\/a>, will face less onerous costs and might not hike prices as much, compared with the original tariff rate of 46%.<\/p>\n After weighing both pieces of news, investors decided the good news was more important and lifted the S&P 500 to a new closing high. Granted, the ADP report has had a spotty track record in predicting the official job figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But it’s still worth thinking about how that’s a sign financial markets could be slightly disconnected from the real economy: Who can afford to buy shoes and pump up stocks if they don’t have jobs?<\/p>\n What you need to know today<\/p>\n Vietnam strikes a deal with America. <\/strong>Imports from the Southeast Asian nation to the U.S. will be subject to a 20% tariff<\/a>, while the U.S. gets tariff-free access to Vietnam’s market, Trump announced<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 rises to close at a fresh record. <\/strong>The index also scored an intra-day high<\/a>, while the Nasdaq Composite<\/a> notched a record close. <\/strong>The pan-European Stoxx 600<\/a> index added 0.18%. U.K. bond yields jumped on turmoil in the Labour Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.S. lost private sector jobs in June. <\/strong>Job losses amounted to 33,000<\/a>, reported ADP on Wednesday. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected an increase of 100,000 jobs for the month.<\/p>\n Tesla reports a fall in second-quarter deliveries. <\/strong>The Elon Musk-led company delivered 384,122 vehicles in that period, a drop of 14% from a year ago. But Tesla<\/a> shares still rose as the numbers were better than some investors had feared<\/a>.<\/p>\n [PRO] A weak jobs report could trigger a sell-off. <\/strong>If the numbers for June’s nonfarm payrolls, out Thursday, is anything like the\u00a0ADP report, the JPMorgan trading desk thinks U.S. stocks could tumble<\/a>.<\/p>\n And finally…<\/p>\n Employees at a coal mine in China’s Shaanxi province sit in an office to use digital systems for mining work, according to a photo taken on April 26, 2023, during a media tour organized by Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.<\/p>\n Wang Zhao | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n