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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A reading of the services sector jumped to the highest level in July since Aug. 2005. The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday its services index surged to 60.3% from a 56% reading in June. Any reading above 50% indicates expansion. Economists polled by MarketWatch expected a reading of 56.5%. The business activity and new orders components both were over 60%, and the employment index increased 6.9 percentage points to 59.6%.

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Walt Disney Co.’s stock is on track to suffer the biggest one-day price drop in its history, a day after closing at an all-time high, as investors jeered the entertainment company’s fiscal third-quarter results. The stock tumbled $10.27, or 8.4%, to $111.42 in morning trade Wednesday, which is nearly double the second-biggest price drop of $5.67 suffered on Nov. 9, 2000. The selloff was also shaving off 69 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

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U.S. stocks opened higher Wednesday, looking to end a three-day losing streak as earnings-driven by Priceline and First Solar helped lead the S&P 500 higher after a softer-than-expected reading on private payroll growth stoked ideas the Federal Reserve might not be so hasty about hiking rates.The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up, 7.69 points, or 0.1%, to 17,573.38, while the S&P 500 ticked higher nearly 10 points, or 0.5%, to 2,103.1, and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 26 points, or 0.5%, to 5,133.32.

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Treasury Department officials said Wednesday that extraordiary measures now in place will keep the federal government from hitting the debt ceiling for at least a brief time after Oct. 30. Last month, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress that the debt ceiling would not be hit before end of October. Treasury officials said the department will have to temporarily reduce the level of Treasury bill issuance over the next few months as the debt ceiling nears. Treasury announced that it will auction $64 billion in notes and bonds next week in its regular quarterly-refunding auctions. The auction size is unchanged from the May refunding.

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The dollar tumbled Wednesday after ADP said the U.S. private sector added only 185,000 jobs in July. The consensus estimate from a survey of economists conducted by The Wall Street Journal was 210,000. The dollar weakened to 124.10 yen after the report from 124.40 yen shortly before. The euro strengthened to $1.0905 from $1.0850. The pound rose to $1.5640 from $1.5630 beforehand. The ADP number is a widely watched indicator of the Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls number, expected Friday. But analysts noted that ADP has consistently underestimated the official number so far this year.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. trade deficit rose 7.1% to a seasonally adjusted $43.8 billion in June, largely reflecting higher imports such as autos and drugs from the European Union. The trade deficit with the EU in goods hit a record high. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the U.S. deficit to climb to $42.8 billion from a revised $40.9 billion in May. Exports slipped 0.1% to $188.6 billion in June, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Imports rose 1.2% to $232.4 billion. The U.S. trade deficit averaged $41.8 billion from April to June, down 2.5% from the same three-month period a year earlier. The rise in the June trade deficit won’t come as a surprise to Wall Street. The government last week began to issue a new report that shows the “goods” balance a few days ahead of the full report, and it showed a similar increase. The change in the goods trade balance usually determines if the overall deficit goes up or down. Service-related imports and exports tend to change very little from month to month.

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Ralph Lauren Corp. shares were up 4% Wednesday after the company reported fiscal first-quarter earnings Wednesday of $64 million, or 73 cents per share, down from $162 million, or $1.80 per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding restructuring and non-cash charges, Ralph Lauren reported earnings per share of $1.09. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, earnings per share of 99 cents. The company reported sales of $1.62 billion, down from $1.71 billion a year ago, but above the FactSet consensus of $1.61 billion. Same-store sales were down 8% from the year-earlier period. Ralph Lauren is in the process of transitioning to a “new global brand management organizational structure and said it expects restructuring charges of $70 million to $100 million, with $45 million already coming in the first quarter. For the second quarter, Ralph Lauren expects net revenues to be up 3% to 5% but affected by foreign currency exchanges. The stock, which surged 4.4% in premarket trade, has dropped 33% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.7%.

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Employers added 185,000 jobs last month, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported Wednesday, a slower pace than in the prior month. ADP revised June’s gain down slightly to 229,000 from a prior estimate of 237,000. Economists use ADP’s data to get a feeling for the Labor Department’s employment report, which will be released Friday and covers government jobs in addition to the private sector. Economists polled by MarketWatch expect the government’s report to show that nonfarm payroll rose by a 215,000 jobs last month, down from a gain of 223,000 in June. This would be the smallest increase in nonfarm payroll employment since January.

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SodaStream International Ltd. reported on Wednesday a second-quarter net profit that fell to $960,000, or 5 cents a share, from $9.2 million, or 43 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as restructuring-related charges, adjusted earnings per share came to 17 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 31 cents. Revenue fell to $99.8 million from $141.2 million, below the FactSet consensus of $106.3 million, with sales in all geographic regions and in all product categories declining. Changes in currency rates reduced revenue by $16.9 million. Gross margin declined to 50.3% from 50.5%. “As we previously discussed, the first half of 2015 would be a challenging period due to implementation of our global restructuring and growth plan combined with changes in foreign currency exchange rates,” said Chief Executive Daniel Birnbaum. The stock, which lost 3.3% in light premarket trade, has dropped 14% year to date through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 1.7%.

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Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell said Wednesday he is undecided about whether to support a rate hike at the next policy meeting in mid-September. In an interview on CNBC, Powell said he will wait to review the “raft” of important data to be released before the meeting on September 16-17. “I haven’t made any decisions about what I would support,” Powell said. The Fed governor said he was going to pay particular attention to the labor market data. Powell said he thinks the economy has more slack than the current 5.3% unemployment rate suggests. “I think it is appropriate to wait and see the data,” Powell said. So far this week, two Fed regional bank presidents have come out in favor of a September rate hike.

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