US stocks lower on Egypt, China concerns

NEW YORK CITY — US stocks Wednesday looked past solid US employment data and opened lower on concerns about Egypt and the Chinese economy.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48.46 (0.32 percent) to 14,883.95.

The broad-based S&P 500 retreated by 8.20 (0.51 percent) to 1,605.88, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 12.63 (0.37 percent) to 3,420.77.

The market closes early Wednesday in advance of the July 4 Independence Day holiday.

The ADP payrolls firm estimated that 188,000 private-sector jobs were generated in June, well above the May reading of 134,000.

The weekly Labor Department report on jobless claims was also a positive, as claims fell 5,000 below the previous week’s level to 343,000.

But investors were edgy over the political crisis in Egypt, where President Mohamed Morsi has refused to quit in the face of mass protests demanding his resignation.

The other uncertainty surrounds China, where a reading on non-manufacturing PMI fell to 53.9 in June compared with 54.3 in May, another sign of the country’s economic slowdown.