The United States lost fewer private sector jobs in August than in July while companies planned fewer layoffs, suggesting modest improvement in the beleaguered U.S. labor market, according to Reuters. Tentative signs of recovery were also evident in data showing U.S. factories saw an increase in new orders in July for the fourth straight month, though the rise was smaller than economists had expected. U.S. stocks failed to get much traction, as economists had expected the data to paint an even brighter picture of the U.S. outlook. The major indexes were little changed on the day. Wall Street rallied aggressively over the summer on signs that the economy was pulling out of its worst recession in 70 years, but investors have since grown more cautious. "We're in the process of turning around, with the economy shifting from contraction to expansion, but the turn is happening slowly," said Mike Moran, chief economist at Daiwa USA in New York. "It's not going to be a V-shaped recovery." Those clinging to hopes of recovery have latched onto evidence that the rate of job losses is slowing. ADP Employer Services said Wednesday that U.S. private employers cut 298,000 jobs in August, below 360,000 job losses seen in July. While that was more than the 250,000 private job losses economists had expected, it still marked a shrinking from the previous month. That left investors hoping to see similar improvement reflected in the government's more comprehensive jobs report on Friday. In July, it showed the economy shed 247,000 public and private jobs, and economists polled by Reuters expect losses to have slipped to 225,000 last month. Between January and March, U.S. employers were cutting an average of 697,000 jobs a month, according to U.S. data.
