Stocks fluctuate after rise in factory orders
NEW YORK - Stocks fluctuated Wednesday after factory orders showed their the weakest performance in three months in May and as investors squared positions ahead of the government’s June employment report.

U.S. jobs picture grim, housing struggles
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers slashed 79,000 jobs in June while planned layoffs at U.S. firms rose nearly 50 percent above year-ago levels, according to data that may spell bad news for a government payrolls report this week.

Crude Oil Rises on Concern Israel Attack Will Cut Iran Supply
Oil rose, extending this year’s 48 percent gain, after ABC News reported Israel is increasingly likely to attack Iran this year, starting a conflict that would threaten supplies from the Middle East. Israel may bomb Iran if OPEC’s second-largest producer acquires enough enriched uranium to build a weapon, the report said, citing an unidentified Pentagon official.

Worst job loss in nearly 6 years, says ADP
Private-sector jobs decline by 79,000 in June

Consumers the gloomiest in 28 years
Pummeled by high gas prices, rising foreclosures and weak job growth, U.S. consumers’ mood turns even gloomier in June; UMich consumer sentiment index hits 56.4, lowest since 1980.

Brokerage firm failure has to be an option, says Paulson
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stresses in a speech in London that federal regulators must craft a system to allow brokerage firms to fail without threatening the overall financial system and that Washington must make clear that few institutions are too big or too interconnected to fail.