S&P 500 Index opens lower after disappointing employment data

• Wall Street's main indexes opened in the negative territory.
• ADP Employment Change came in lower than expected in July.
• Energy shares continue to slide amid slumping crude oil prices.

Major equity indexes in the US opened in the negative territory on Wednesday after the disappointing labour market data from the US. As of writing, the S&P 500 was down 0.33% at 4,408, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.6% at 34,903 and the Nasdaq Composite was falling 0.07% at 15,054.

The monthly data published by the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Research Institute showed on Wednesday that private-sector employment increased by 330,000 in July, missing the market expectation of 695,000 by a wide margin. 

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Energy Index is down 2.5% pressured by a 2.7% decline seen in US crude oil prices. On the other hand, the defensive Real Estate Index is the only major sector trading in the green following the opening bell.

S&P 500 chart (daily)