Stocks Fall After Data

U.S. Market
Stocks were lower this morning after disappointing data.

Private employers added 156,000 jobs last month according to ADP. That’s the lowest number of new jobs since February 2014 and well below the 193,000 expected by economists. The data comes ahead of Friday’s official payroll and unemployment rate report.

Productivity fell 1% in the first-quarter from fourth-quarter levels. The drop was less severe than the 1.4% decline that had been expected. Hourly compensation was up at a 3% annual rate in the quarter, a marked increase from the 0.9% rate seen last quarter.

The trade deficit shrank to the lowest level in a year in March. The 14. $40.4 billion decline was driven by a 0.9% drop in exports and a 3.6% fall in imports.

The ISM Nonmanufacturing index, which measures the strength of the service sector, rose to 55.7 in April from 54.4 in March.

At midday the Dow and S&P 500 were down 0.6% while the Nasdaq was off 0.8%.

Stocks on the Move
Priceline (PCLN) reported a robust first quarter but offered guidance that implies meaningful deceleration in demand and a pick-up in near-term cost deleverage. First-quarter room night and booking growth were strong, while take rate was stable. Constant currency bookings growth of 26% was above the 18%-25% guidance range versus 24% last quarter. Shares plunged more than 10% on the downbeat guidance.

Shares of Time Warner (TWX) were up 3.2% this morning after reporting better-than-expected results. Strength at HBO and the Turner Networks were the primary drives of out outperformance.

Foreign Markets
European markets were lower. The FTSE 100, Paris CAC and Germany’s DAX were down 1.2%, 1.1% and 1% respectively.

Asian shares were also down. The Shanghai Composite was flat, the Hang Seng fell 0.7% while the Nikkei 225 plunged 3.1%.