Tomorrow's Headliners: Jobs Data

Thursday marks the end of the holiday-shortened week, and the government's monthly employment report should provide plenty of fireworks well before traders escape for the Fourth of July holiday.

The Labor Department will post its nonfarm payrolls report for June at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday, a day earlier than usual, because the markets are closed Friday. Economists polled by Reuters expect that about 375,000 jobs were lost this month, compared with May's loss of 345,000. The unemployment rate probably swelled from the 9.4% reported in May, those economists predict.

However, the worse-than-expected ADP (ADP Quote) employment report, released Wednesday, has some fearing the government's job-loss count for June will be higher than many expect. The ADP report showed that the private sector lost 473,000 jobs in June, more than the 400,000 jobs economists expected. ...