Market Midday: Stocks Mixed, Job Creation Cooled In June, Americans Pay Up For Beef 7/2/26

The US economy exhibits significant divergence between booming technology sectors and sluggish real economy conditions, as evidenced by mixed market performance (Dow up 337 points while S&P 500 down 24 points and NASDAQ down 276 points) following a disappointing June jobs report showing only 57,000 jobs created (half of expectations), with private sector hiring weak at 39,000 and leisure/hospitality declining by 61,000, while the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.2%.