Shock job report shows worst employment decline in years sending markets into the negative
Private payrolls shed 33,000 jobs in June when analysts had conversely expected them to add 100,000, according to the latest ADP figures.
The worrying data suggests the US economy could be a lot less resilient than investors have been hoping.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes turned negative in pre-market trading following the release of the report on Wednesday morning.
'Though layoffs continue to be rare, a hesitancy to hire and a reluctance to replace departing workers led to job losses last month,' Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist said in a statement.
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The Guardian
10 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Elon Musk's proposed new political party could focus on a few pivotal congressional seats
The new US political party that Elon Musk has boasted about possibly bankrolling could initially focus on a handful of attainable House and Senate seats while striving to be the decisive vote on major issues amid the thin margins in Congress. Tesla and SpaceX's multibillionaire CEO mused about that approach on Friday in a post on X, the social media platform which he owns, as he continued feuding with Donald Trump over the spending bill that the president has signed into law. 'One way to execute on this would be to laser-focus on just 2 or 3 Senate seats and 8 to 10 House districts,' wrote Musk, who is the world's richest person and oversaw brutal cuts to the federal government after Trump's second presidency began in January. 'Given the razor-thin legislative margins, that would be enough to serve as the deciding vote on contentious laws, ensuring they serve the true will of the people.' In another post on Friday, when the US celebrated the 249th anniversary of its declaration of independence from the UK, Musk published a poll asking his X followers whether he should advance on his previously stated idea of creating the so-called America party to challenge both Republicans and Democrats. More than 65% of about 1.25m responses indicated 'yes' as of Saturday morning. 'Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!' Musk also wrote in text accompanying the poll, which he promoted several times throughout Friday. Musk's posts on Friday came after he spent $277m of his fortune supporting Trump's victorious 2024 presidential campaign. The Republican president rewarded Musk by appointing him to lead the so-called 'department of government efficiency', or Doge, which abruptly and chaotically slashed various government jobs and programs while claiming it saved $190bn. But Doge's actions may also have cost taxpayers $135bn, according to an analysis by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan non-profit dedicated to studying the federal workforce. Musk left Doge at the end of May and more recently became incensed at Trump's support for a budget bill that would increase the US debt by $3.3tn. He threatened to financially support primary challenges against every member of Congress who supported Trump's spending bill – along with promising to 'form the America Party' if it passed. The House voted 218 to 214 in favor of the spending bill, with just two Republicans joining every Democrat in the chamber in unsuccessfully opposing it. In the Senate, the vice-president, JD Vance, broke a 50-50 deadlock in favor of the bill, which Trump signed on Friday hours after Musk posted his America party-related poll. The Trump spending bill's voting breakdown illustrated how narrowly the winning side in Congress carries some of the most controversial matters. Trump has warned Musk – a native of South Africa and naturalized US citizen since 2002 – that directly opposing his agenda would be personally costly. The president, who has pursued mass deportations of immigrants recently, publicly discussed deporting Musk from the US as well as cutting government contracts for some of his companies. 'Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head to South Africa,' Trump posted on his own Truth Social platform. The president also told a group of reporters in Florida: 'We might have to put Doge on Elon. Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon. Wouldn't that be terrible.'
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
America's dreamy paradise becomes a nightmare so dangerous that longtime locals are selling up after decades
Once a postcard-perfect escape, California 's Big Sur is now facing a harsh new reality... impassable roads, sky-high fire risk, and vanishing access to basic services. Now, even its most devoted residents are packing up and leaving — some after more than 40 years. Among the recent sellers are Brigga Mosca, 70, and Reed Cripe, 82, who bought five acres of land overlooking the ocean for $70,000 in 1983. They built their dream home but have now decided to put it on the market for $3 million. 'It's harder for us to be here,' Mosca told the Wall Street Journal about the lack of road access and distance from basic amenities including a hospital. Big Sur's natural beauty is married to its remoteness, with only one two lane highway allowing access to Carmel-by-the-Sea to the north and the small towns outside Santa Barbara to it south. But parts of Highway 1 have been subject to natural disasters and crumbling infrastructure since it opened in 1937. For some of the area's 1,500 full-time residents the most recent disruptions — which began in February last year — have been a tipping point. A seven-mile stretch of the road near the community of Lucia was closed in February 2024 and isn't expected to open until the end of the summer. A large land slide near Rocky Creek Bridge in March last year also saw closures to through traffic and residents were only able to leave on designated convoys twice a day. Further to this many residents were alarmed by Cal Fire's recent upgrade of the area's wildfire risk to 'Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.' Like other areas of the Golden State, accessing adequate insurance for properties in Big Sur is becoming increasingly difficult. Big Sur has just shy of 900 properties and most sell for $3 million or more. There are 15 properties currently active on the market ranging in price from $1.8 million to $100 million. Realtor Hillary Lipman, owner of Big Sur Coast Properties, told that issues with the highway and wildfires are certainly a driving factor for the amount of inventory on the market at the moment. 'We've had lots off difficulties with the highway being closed and fires,' Lipman, who has lived in the area for 40 years, explained. 'Most business people are frustrated nothing can be done because of excessive regulations particularly when it comes to the coastal commission. 'They're not allowed to push the dirt into the ocean to get the highway open again [after a slide] it has to be trucked away, which could be more polluting.' Lipman also owns the only gas station on the Big Sur stretch of the Highway and the constant closures have hit business. Lipman said there is also a generational shift occurring, where older residents who have lived in the area for decades are looking to move closer to a city or town in order to be nearer family and medical facilities. Around 70 percent of the 15 homes currently listed or sold in the last year have been 'legacy properties' that haven't been on the market in decades. Other older residents are moving on after the death of a spouse. Merle Mullin's 43-acre oceanfront compound Bien Sur is currently on the market for $21.5 million. Mullin lived in the property with her husband, the insurance tycoon Peter Mullin, until his death in 2023. Residents were only able to leave on designated convoys twice a day during the closure 'What would I do by myself? It's so isolated,' she told the Journal. Lipman said there is a lot of inventory available at the moment and the market seems 'soft' but is confident it will pick back up. 'There are always people looking to buy in this magical area, and if you can't sell you still have a lovely property in Big Sur.'
Daily Mail
33 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Forget toasters… surprising new wedding gift couples want says everything about today's America
Many newlyweds are aware of just how much it costs to buy a home. Stubbornly high mortgage rates, along with soaring home prices and a rocky economy have been preventing thousands of people from purchasing their first home. Add a costly wedding to the mix and you could be starting a life together in debt. No one wants that. Couples are now asking wedding guests to hold the appliances and kitchenware and contribute to the down payment on a house instead. It's no longer taboo to ask for cold hard cash — and couples are turning to their registries to ask for help. Casey and David Gaddy, from Pennsylvania, married last year in Mexico. They politely suggested to guests that if they were going to be giving a gift, would they think instead about contributing to a fund that would go towards helping them buy their first home. The couple was shooting for a $20,000 boost to their savings for a down payment and help with closing costs. 'We got married in Mexico, and it was it was beautiful. The reason that we made that decision was because it would be less expensive than doing a big local wedding,' Casey Gaddy told the Daily Mail. With wedding planning and house hunting happening simultaneously in October 2024, Gaddy says they decided to combine the two financially. 'We originally felt kind of uncomfortable but decided the way we approached it was "we're buying a house and we're getting married so any contribution we would be thankful for,"' he said. 'That was the most stressful time of my life, but the guests contributing helped make it easier. 'From parents and from friends and relatives we landed between $25,000 and $26,000, so that gave us enough to buy our house.' In the end people were relieved to not have to buy something impersonal, he said, and many even told the couple how happy they felt to help them start their married life together. 'It was nice to have them involved in the big transition in our lives and buying the house and it was cool to have so much support,' Gaddy said. The couple planted roots in Philadelphia, where they bought a three-bedroom, three-bath home, they're 'super happy' with. Gaddy added: 'It's beautiful, we have extra room for my parents to come or the in-laws to come stay whenever they want, or my grandmother. 'And we have two cats and now we just added a beagle to the family and have extra room.' Gaddy also said that as a realtor, he's seen other young couples hopping on the trend. Some registries now offer options for guests to gift a couple cash under headings like 'Home Down Payment.' According to wedding website Zola, the percentage of couples adding at least one cash fund to their registry is now 87 percent. After purchasing a home, renovations and paying down debts were popular additions to registries. These choices are a reflection of how modern couples are thoughtfully planning for their economic future. The average wedding now costs a whopping $36,000, Zola reports, and the average home down payment is $55,000 reports real estate firm ATTOM. For first time home buyers, 60 percent are using at least two sources to come up with their down payment — savings and gifts from family or friends. 'Society has really moved in that direction and generally people are very comfortable giving cash, especially when they know what it's going toward,' said Emily Forrest, a spokesperson for Zola. Financial experts say the request is a really good move. 'The value of the typical home in the U.S. right now is about $350,000. That means a couple would need to come up with $70,000 if they plan on putting 20 percent down,' says Amanda Pendleton, Zillow's home trends expert. Pendleton says that a new analysis from Zillow Home Loans and The Knot finds the share of couples including 'home funds' as part of their wedding registry has increased 55 percent since 2018. 'Nearly 20 percent of all couples registered on The Knot are asking their guests to help them with the down payment on their first home,' she said. 'Affordability remains the number one challenge for aspiring first-time home buyers, and saving up for a down payment is one of the biggest hurdles. 'It now takes nearly 12 years for a typical first-time buyer to save up for a down payment, compared to nine years prior to the pandemic.' Pendleton added: 'It's no wonder 38 percent of all mortgage buyers use either gifts or loans from family and friends to help fund their down payment. By crowdsourcing those funds in a wedding registry, newly married couples can get an even bigger head start.' Besides home ownership, opening joint bank accounts, figuring out how bills will be paid and tackling debt together are all things that need to be discussed — before the wedding. Because even if guests do generously chip in, the costs don't stop there. A 2024 Bankrate study found the true cost of owning a single-family home — excluding the mortgage – is $18,118 per year, thanks to property taxes, insurance, repairs and utility bills. Pendleton says asking for cash on your registry for all of the above is smart. But she advises there's a polite way to ask. 'Couples shouldn't feel ashamed to request cash contributions for a down payment,' she said. 'Most close friends and family members want their wedding gift to be a meaningful contribution to the couple's future – and nothing is more meaningful than helping them with their first home. 'Using a registry platform with a "home fund" option helps normalize the ask. And it's important to make it personal. Tell your guests what the dream of homeownership represents to you as a couple, and how this gift will help you achieve that dream.' She predicts even more couples will ask for down payment contributions in the future, saying people are getting married later in life and already have their blenders and silverware. 'What they truly need is a leg up in today's housing market,' she said.
