insto - Australian financial markets

Disappointing employment numbers and a long weekend in the US have combined to dampen down any improving sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic overnight.

The US economy lost 467,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 per cent (from 9.4 per cent) in what the New York Times said was “a sobering indication that the most painful downturn since the Great Depression has yet to release its hold”. The losses for June brought the tally of jobs shed since the beginning of the recession to 6.5 million, a figure equivalent to the net job gains over the previous nine years.