Best Gold Stocks to Buy Now: AABB, GOLD, GDX 
U.S. private sector employment surged by 298,000 in February, report by payroll processor ADP showed on Wednesday. The rise compared to an upwardly revised 261,000 jobs in January and was much more than analysts' expectations at 190,000. The spike in private sector employment in February marked the biggest monthly increase since January of 2006.
"February proved to be an incredibly strong month for employment with increases we have not seen in years," Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a statement.
Job creation was also largely evenly distributed across business size. The employment at large businesses rose by 72,000 jobs, while small and medium businesses added 104,000 and 122,000 jobs respectively. There was a notable shift away from the service-sector positions that have dominated hiring for years. Employment in the goods-producing sector shot up by 106,000 jobs, as the construction and manufacturing industries added 66,000 jobs and 32,000 jobs, respectively.
The ADP figures come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's more comprehensive non-farm payrolls (NFP) report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment. The big beat on ADP now raises expectations for a good NFP reading. The blockbuster report also solidified market expectations for the Fed to hike interest rates next week. Probability for an increase jumped to 91 percent after the release, according to the CME.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect Friday's U.S. private payroll employment to have grown by 193,000 jobs in February, down from 237,000 the month before. Total non-farm employment is expected to have changed by 190,000. The unemployment rate is forecast to tick down to 4.7 percent from the 4.8 percent recorded a month earlier.
