YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The week of August 6 began with plenty of promise, but disappointment over the July jobs led to a lackluster finish.

The stock market started the week with a 2.2% surge that saw it close above its 200-day moving average for the first time since June. Participants were encouraged by the latest ISM Manufacturing Index, which pulled back for the third straight month to hit 55.5 for July, but still exceeded the 54.2 that had been widely expected.

Midweek action was much more muddled. Participants digested a better-than-expected July ISM Service Index of 54.3, a worse-than-forecast 1.2% drop in June factory orders, a surprise decline in June pending home sales, and flat personal income and spending figures for June.

Some took hope that the job market was seeing improvement since the latest ADP Employment Change stated that private payrolls for July increased by 42,000 when only 25,000 additions had been expected. However, news that initial jobless claims for the week ended July 31 climbed more than expected to a three-month high of 479,000 weighed on sentiment.

Trade on Friday was mostly dictated by the government's official monthly jobs report, which showed that 131,000 nonfarm payrolls were slashed in July. A sample of economists polled by Briefing.com had expected, on average, a more moderate decline of 87,000 jobs. Combining the worse-than-expected July jobs report and the downward revision to June data, nonfarm payrolls had their worst pair of payrolls reports in eight months.

Despite that development, the headline unemployment rate stayed at 9.5%, but that is because the labor force continues to shrink as discouraged job seekers suspend their efforts.

The dour data at the end of the week turned many participants into sellers, such that stocks were down as much as 1.6% Friday. That took the S&P 500 back below its 200-day moving average and encouraged a flight to safety the drove the yield on the 10-year Treasury Note as low as 2.81%, which is almost a 16-month low. A late rebound helped stocks move back above the 200-day average and book a less feeble finish.

Though the unemployment report removed an element of uncertainty from trade, it didn't pull any players off of the sidelines. Plenty of retail investors remain cautious about returning to the stock market due to concerns about weakening economic conditions and the prospect of further market corrections. In turn, trading volume remains depressed.  Share volume on the NYSE didn't even break 1 billion Friday and it averaged just 960 million this week. Prior to this week, the 50-day moving average on the Big Board stood at 1.3 billion shares.

Corporate earnings continued to come in above expectations, but their influence over broader trade remained negligible. Among the more widely held names to report this past week, Dow components Pfizer (PFE 16.24, +0.05) and Kraft (KFT 30.36, +0.70) exceeded earnings expectations, while MasterCard (MA 207.42, +5.79) had an upside surprise of its own. Consumer staples giant and Dow component Procter & Gamble (PG 60.02, +0.16) stood out for being one of the few notable names that missed Wall Street's consensus earnings estimate.

European banks BNP Paribas and HSBC (HBC 53.08, -0.25) both reported strong earnings this week, while embattled energy giant BP (BP 41.33, +0.65) made progress toward permanently capping its leaking oil well in the Gulf.

Retailers reported same-store sales figures for July. The results were generally mixed, but retailers still finished the week 2.4% higher, collectively.

Commodities sold off just over 1.0% this session following the disappointing jobs number.

Losses were led by the energy complex. September natural gas closed 3.0% lower at $4.46 per MMBtu; it shed nearly 10% on the week. September crude oil futures shed 1.6%, but were able to stay above the $80 level. They closed at $80.70 per barrel.

Precious metals benefitted from a weaker dollar and a flight to safety. December gold rose 0.5% to $1205.00 per ounce. September silver closed 0.7% higher at $18.444 per ounce.

December Wheat futures closed limit down ($0.60 -- 7% in this case) at $7.5525. This moves follows a roughly 70% surge in what prices since July 1.

A 1.5% drop during the course of the past five sessions gave the greenback its ninth consecutive weekly loss. Such weakness has the dollar down 10% since its June high and at its lowest level in almost four months. The dollar's decline has come amid concerns about a weakening U.S. economy.  Conversely, there has been a surge in the yen to a near 15-year high and a bounce by the euro to its best level in three months. DJ30 -21.42 NASDAQ -4.59 NQ100 -0.1% R2K -0.7% SP400 -0.2% SP500 -4.17 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1058/1.88 bln/1530 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1384/949 mln/1604