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NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are higher in early Wall Street trading following a jobs report that was better than most experts expected. Bond prices fell and yields rose, which sent shares of banks and financial companies higher. Technology companies also advanced. Wall Street remains focused on corporate earnings. Weight Watchers and Western Union climbed after strong reports while Viacom, the media company that owns MTV, sank.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government reports that U.S. employers added 209,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate slipped to 4.3 percent, matching a 16-year low first reached in May. But growth in Americans' paychecks remains stubbornly slow. Average hourly pay rose by 2.5 percent from a year earlier, the same tepid annual pace as in June. That's below the 3.5 percent to 4 percent that is typical when the unemployment rate is this low.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in June as exports hit the highest level in 2 ½ years. The Commerce Department says the trade gap slid 5.9 percent in June to $43.6 billion. Exports of goods and services rose 1.2 percent to $194.4 billion, the highest amount since December 2014. Services exports reached a record $65.4 billion. Overall imports slipped 0.2 percent to $238 billion. The deficit in goods with China rose 3.1 percent in June to $32.6 billion.
DETROIT (AP) — A former German Volkswagen executive has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in Detroit in a scheme to cheat emission rules on nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles. Oliver Schmidt is a former manager of a VW engineering office in suburban Detroit. He was arrested in January. Schmidt was accused of telling regulators technical problems were to blame for the difference in emissions in road and lab tests. VW admits using software to get around emission standards. It pleaded guilty in March and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties, on top of billions more to buy back cars.
PLANO, Texas (AP) — Prosecutors say a Texas man has pleaded guilty to federal charges that he smuggled circuits abroad for use by space programs in China and Russia. Peter Zuccarelli of Plano (PLAY'-noh) pleaded guilty Thursday to charges that include conspiring to smuggle and illegally export from the U.S. Prosecutors say that starting in 2015, Zuccarelli used his company to place orders with U.S. suppliers for the circuits, known as radiation-hardened integrated circuits. He repackaged them as "touch screen parts" and shipped them out of the U.S. The circuits have space and military applications so their export is strictly controlled by federal law.
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