As much as the weekly claims, ISM and Pending Home Sales figures all fell short of expectations, the averages held up pretty well. They didn’t hold onto green arrows at the end of the day, but it would be asking for too much given the fact that we have the all-important June Employment Report out this morning. It is also the first trading days of a new quarter and right ahead of a three day weekend. I didn’t think that the component data of the ISM were all that bad. Yes, they were all downticks, as anticipated. However, production was strong, employment was up, and inventories are still getting depleted. Profit margins should remain high, even in this slow-growth environment, but we’ll have to wait on some key earnings reports. So it comes down to jobs, jobs, jobs. First of all, we don’t expect good news. If you haven’t been listening, this is a jobless recovery, which means no appreciable growth in jobs. That will happen in Q4. Still, we want to see something better than the expectations. I would say that the official estimate is probably too high. Expectations are for a decline of 130,000 jobs, mostly due to the early census worker layoffs. Private sector jobs were supposed to add about 100,000, but after ADP’s estimate for just 13,000, the real expectation is probably lower. Unemployment is expected to rise to 9.8% from 9.7%. Hourly earnings are expected to increase just 1/10^th. Average hours are expected to be unchanged. If we get any good news, the shorts should cover and go home.