A Nike store in Hanoi, Vietnam, on July 3, 2025.<\/p>\n
Nhac Nguyen | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n
If I had to choose between having a job and paying less for Nike shoes, you’d see me running 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 todayAnd finally…<\/p>\n The CATL listing ceremony at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on May 20, 2025.<\/p>\n Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n