U.S. markets head lower Wednesday

U.S. markets headed lower Wednesday after Automatic Data Processing Inc. said the country lost 371,000 jobs from June to July.

The monthly report is an improvement over the past three months, when ADP reported job losses that averaged 498,000 per month.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 48.67 points, 0.52 percent, to 9,271.52. The S&P 500 lost 4.39 points, 0.44 percent, to 1,001.26. The Nasdaq index lost 21.44 points, 1.07 percent, to 1,989.87.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury was unchanged, yielding 3.687 percent.

The euro rose to $1.4423 from Tuesday’s $1.4398. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 94.84 yen from Tuesday’s 95.27 yen.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index lost 1.18 percent, 122.48 points, to 10,252.53.

In Britain, the FTSE 100 index shed 24.24 points, 0.52 percent, to 4,647.13.