Wage Reports to Be Closely Watched

Investors will be keeping a jittery hand on their stock portfolios after last week’s bloodletting, with eyes trained on crucial employment data and the latest quarterly earnings reports for signs of corporate and economic growth. Last week, a volatile mix of second-quarter employment costs, durable goods orders and gross domestic product data clouded the interest-rate picture, contributing to dives in the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite. Greasing the slide were lackluster earnings and profit warnings in the semiconductor and mobile phone sector. Investors will scrutinize this week’s data in the light of last week’s reports, which exacerbated concerns that Federal Reserve policymakers will boost interest rates for what would be the seventh time in a year when they next meet on Aug. 22. The most riveting piece of data measuring economic growth lands Friday when the Labor Department will release its July payrolls report, measuring the number of new jobs created as well as the U.S. unemployment rate for the month just ended. In June, the unemployment rate stood at 4%, the lowest in 30 years. In Friday’s report, possibly the most closely watched component will be the average hourly earnings figures as the Fed has been on the warpath against wage-level inflation.