| No images? Click here   By Sabrina Escobar | Wednesday, July 2 Job Jitters. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite notched their second record closes of the week, but anticipation over Thursday's jobs report led to a messy trading session today. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 11 points, or 0.02%. Despite the new highs, the Nasdaq and S&P's gains were far from widespread. Risky, high-growth tech stocks like Tesla and Nvidia lifted the market, even though 42% of the S&P closed in the red. Consumer discretionary also had a surprisingly strong day, with the sector up 0.8% on news that the Trump administration had struck a tariff deal with Vietnam, a key apparel, footwear, and furniture manufacturer (more on that below). Investors were looking to position themselves ahead of this week's holiday-shortened trading hours and June's jobs report, due tomorrow morning. Economists polled by FactSet expect the economy added 115,000 jobs in June and that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3% from 4.2% in May. Today's ADP private sector payroll report sparked some concerns that the report could be weaker than expected. ADP said the private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June. Although ADP's jobs report often doesn't correlate with official government data, it can still point to broader trends in the labor market. “The ADP report increased the odds of a downside surprise in Thursday’s nonfarm payroll release," wrote Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial. "Investor jitters could be a catalyst for a drop in yields tomorrow if the jobs report is weaker than expected." Roach is factoring in a weak report, which he says could also increase the odds that the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates three times this year. You might be saying the more cuts, the better, but be careful what you wish for -- if the Fed starts slashing rates drastically, it's likely a warning sign that the economy is in a more precarious spot than previously expected. We're not there yet, and there's still loads more data to be released before the July 29-30 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the shortened trading week in observance of Independence Day. U.S. stock exchanges will close at 1 p.m. tomorrow and won't reopen until Monday.  DJIA: -0.02% to 44,484.42 The Hot Stock: Albemarle +8.1% Best Sector: Energy +1.7%    One Tariff Concern More, One Tariff Concern LessWith the July 9 deadline on so-called reciprocal tariffs looming large, the Trump administration is racing to eke out deals with trade partners -- to varying degrees of success. President Donald Trump had a lot to announce on that front this week. Trump told reporters yesterday that Japan was unlikely to strike a deal with the U.S., and threatened to impose a tariff rate as high as 35% on the country. Cars and rice seem to be the sticking points for Japanese officials -- Japan doesn't want to accept rice exports from the U.S., Trump said, and they're also taking a hardline about the U.S.'s 25% import duty on cars. As my colleagues Reshma Kapadia and Brian Swint note, "negotiations with the world’s fourth-biggest economy are showing just how tricky resetting the rules of trade can be." Tricky, but not impossible. On Wednesday, Trump announced he had signed a trade agreement with Vietnam that cut the baseline reciprocal tariff on Vietnamese imports to 20% from the previously announced 46% rate. The deal also imposes a 40% tariff on any goods that were “transshipped,” referring to the practice of shipping goods through an intermediate country before sending them to their final destination. The trade deal lifted shares of companies like On Holding, Nike, Wayfair, and Williams-Sonoma, all of which manufacture a significant share of their merchandise in Vietnam. Apple stock also closed higher given that the company has shifted production of many devices, including MacBooks, iPads, and AirPods to Vietnam. The threat of the 40% transshipment rate, however, contained investor enthusiasm. As I noted earlier today:
 The CalendarThe Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the jobs report for June tomorrow. Economists forecast a 115,00 increase in nonfarm payrolls, following a 139,000 gain in May. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 4.3% from 4.2%. While traders see the Federal Reserve’s next interest cut as likely to happen at the September meeting, an especially weak jobs report could put a July rate cut into play. Jobs growth has averaged 123,800 a month so far this year, compared to 191,900 the previous two years. The ISM releases its Services PMI for June . The consensus call is for a 50.5, slightly higher than the May data.  What We're Reading Today
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