ORLANDO, Florida, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow on

Thursday pulled back from the previous day's record highs,

pausing their strong earnings-driven start to the month, while

Treasury yields and the dollar rose as investors turned their

attention to U.S. employment data on Friday.

In my column today, I look at the first of several SpaceX share

lockup expiries and its potential impact on retail investors.

They took up an unusually large 20% of the IPO, so are sitting

on large paper losses. But they have significantly reduced their

broader tech holdings and leverage recently, so may be tempted

to add exposure.

If you have more time to read, here are a few articles I

recommend to help you make sense of what happened in markets

today.

1. EXCLUSIVE-Iran warns Gulf states: tell Trump to desist or

we hit you hard

2. Fed's Daly says central bank was right to hold rates

steady at July policy meeting

3. U.S. labor market stable; worker productivity accelerates

in second quarter

4. U.S.-Japan action undercuts G7's historic FX role: Mike

Dolan

5. Alphabet looks to raise up to $25 billion from latest

bond sale, source says

Today's Key Market Moves

* STOCKS: South Korea -5%, Japan -1%. Europe, UK little

changed. Wall St in the red: Dow -1%, S&P 500 -0.3%, Nasdaq

-0.1%.

* SECTORS/SHARES: Eight sectors on the S&P 500 fall, three

rise. Industrials, materials, real estate all down 0.8%. Energy

+1.6%. Honeywell Aerospace -23%, Western Digital -13%. Motorola

+8%, Disney +3%.

* FX: Dollar rises broadly for best day in two weeks. Yen

has now given back almost half its post-intervention gains.

* BONDS: Japan yields fall, especially at long end, as

30-year auction goes better than 10-year sale earlier this week.

U.S. yields up 4-7 bps, curve bear flattens.

* COMMODITIES/METALS: Oil rises, Brent +4%, WTI +3%. Gold

little changed around $4,250/oz.

Today's Talking Points:

A job lot

July's U.S. employment data will be released on Friday.

Non-farm payrolls is traditionally one of the data points that

markets move most on, but this time might be different.

Employment indicators are a mixed bag right now; generally

solid with some signs of weakness that ultimately paint a

picture of broad stability. Fed policymakers agree that the

labor market is in a highly unusual spot - a "low hire/low fire"

stasis amid heightened AI uncertainty.

It's stating the obvious, perhaps, but it would need a major

surprise to really jolt markets and move the needle on rate

expectations, as the Fed is more focused on the inflation side

of its mandate than the employment side. The few remaining Wall

Street firms calling for Fed rate cuts, like Citi, say they

anticipate a pretty rapid labor market deterioration in the

coming months. Will we get a glimpse of that on Friday?

Intervention half-life

Debate around last week's historic yen intervention rages

on. Washington's involvement was more symbolic than anything

else, and despite pledges of solidarity with Tokyo, its appetite

for further action is surely limited. Tokyo may have the stomach

for more, and has the firepower, but Washington won't want to

see Treasuries being sold. Also, the Fed's FIMA facility has

limited capacity.

The yen has given back nearly half of its post-intervention

gains, and we will see in the next few weeks how effective the

intervention was. The debate will inevitably return to

"fundamentals" - only a meaningful change in Japanese policy

will ease the pressure on the yen over the long term. Rate hike

expectations for the BOJ and Fed next month are similar, at

around a 55% probability, and both central banks could be

tightening into next year. Maybe "the fiscal" will need to do

more of the lifting.

Special K

U.S. workers saw their share of the U.S. economy slide to a

new low in the second quarter, figures on Thursday showed. This

comes as the Q2 earnings season shows eye-watering U.S.

corporate profit growth, with companies already enjoying a

record share of the national economic pie.

This is another "K-shaped" feature of the U.S. economy that

speaks to the perception that the wealthy and owners of capital

are faring much better than everyone else. The rich can fuel

stock market and GDP growth for so long, but Moody's Analytics

economist Mark Zandi and others warn it's unsustainable.

Consumers are noticing mortgage rates, gas prices and general

inflation. So might voters in November.

What could move markets tomorrow?

* Japan household spending (June)

* Taiwan trade (July)

* Germany industrial production (June)

* U.S. non-farm payrolls (July)

* U.S. Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin speaks

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