Spotlight on economy: Wall Street on alert for upside surprise to jobs data

The U.S. economy is projected to add 180,000 net jobs in July, according to economists surveyed by MarketWatch, but several other employment indicators suggest an even stronger gain. And consumer spending probably rose at a solid clip in June.

The crucial July employment report will be released by the Labor Department at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. At the same time, the latest figures on consumer spending and income will be issued by the Commerce Department. See who’s hiring now and for how much.

In the first half of 2013, the U.S. has created an average of slightly more than 200,000 jobs a month. That’s the best stretch of job creation to start a year since 2005, but still not fast enough to rapidly reduce the nation’s persistently high unemployment. Still, the jobless rate, which stood 7.6% in June, could fall a notch to 7.5% in July, economists say.

Wall Street could be in for a bit of an upside surprise, however, if several economic reports issued this week are any indication. Payroll processor ADP, for instance, said 200,000 private-sector jobs were created in July – above market expectations. And an employment index in a closely followed gauge of the U.S. manufacturing industry showed a strong pickup in hiring in July. http://blogs.marketwatch.com/capitolreport/20...jobs-data/