ADP matches expectations, bring rate hike to focus

Today ADP employment numbers were released from the US for the month of August.

ADP number shows US economy and its labor markets are resilient and the recent momentum loss is stabilizing.

There are two things to note even in the headline that,

• U.S. labor market has stabilized and the weakness seen in April and May looks to be temporary.
   
• July payroll got a robust revision. It has now revised to 194,000 (up from 179,000). June was revised lower to 171,000 (-5,000).

Key highlights

• Non-farm private sector employment grew at 177,000 in August, median expectation was for 175,000.
• Small business sector hiring at 63,000, compared to 61,000 last month.
• Employment in franchise increased to 19,200 compared to last month’s 21,200.
• Mid-sized companies added 44,000 jobs compared to last month’s 68,000 jobs.
• Large sector added just 70,000 compared to last month’s 50,000 jobs.
• Manufacturing sector payroll registered no job gains or losses compared to 4,000 jobs gains last month.
• 6,000 jobs were lost in goods-producing sector, compared to last month’s 6,000 jobs losses.
• Construction sector saw 2,000 job losses, compared to last month’s 6,000 job losses.
• Services sector employment remains robust as payroll added 183,000 people in July. July gains were 185,000.

The dollar index is currently trading at 96.13, up by 0.13% for the day so far.