U.S. markets find some traction

Investors put the brakes on sharp market losses Wednesday after Automatic Data Processing Inc. said 114,000 jobs were added to the economy in July. While the figure is far stronger than May's gain of 38,000 jobs, July's gain is less than is required to bring down the nation's 9.2 percent unemployment rate. In early afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average, down 145.62 points in the early going, was up 11.61 points or 0.1 percent to 11,878.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 3.96 points, 0.32 percent, to 1,258.01. The Nasdaq composite index gained 17.45 points, 0.65 percent, to 2,686.69. The benchmark 10-year treasury note was yielding 2.609 percent. The euro rose to $1.4334 from Tuesday's $1.4202. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 76.91 yen from Tuesday's 77.16 yen. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index lost 2.11 percent, 207.45, to 9,637.14. In London, the FTSE 100 index lost 2.34 percent, 133.88, to 5,584.51.