Today's Employment Report

The June Non-Farm Payrolls number is due out at 8:30 this morning.  Expectations are for a month over month rise in jobs of 125,000.  Because of the July 4th holiday, the June employment numbers are usually released at one of the slowest times of the year.  The lighter volume can cause bigger moves in the market because there aren't as many traders around to offer support or resistance depending on which direction the market is moving.  We went back and looked at all employment reports since 1998 and found that the average absolute change of the S&P 500 on employment report release dates in July is the highest of any month.  So depending on which direction the market heads based on the jobs number this morning, the move may be amplified by the Wall Street workers currently on vacation.