ADP Jobs a Tad Below Expectations - Ahead of Wall Street
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
(This is Mark Vickery covering for Sheraz Mian this morning.)
The ADP (ADP) private-sector jobs report was released this morning, as always two days ahead of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) non-farm payroll results on Friday. 212K non-government jobs were gained in February, slightly below the 215K expected by a consensus of analysts.
January’s ADP report was revised upward by 37K to 250K jobs even. Employment in the Goods segment went up 31K, and Services gained 181K, displaying how important the Services industry is to the U.S. economy these days, especially in relation to generations past.
Non-farm payrolls on Friday are estimated to reach 240K, and today’s ADP report does not seem to indicate any revisions at this point. Of late, government payroll jobs have been added month on month, contrasting from years past when government employment demonstrated a drag on overall jobs in the U.S. Overall, for the past several months the ADP report has been running behind the Friday BLS report in overall numbers.
Moody’s senior economic analyst Mark Zandi, on CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning, talked about 250K being the general monthly jobs growth amount for the past several months, on average. For individuals, wage growth is up, even though retiring baby boomers at higher wages are being replaced in the workforce by lower-wage millenials.
We await tomorrow’s Individual Jobless Claims report in addition to Friday’s BLS report. Thus far in the jobs-centric part of this week, markets don’t look to have much to hang their hat on. Dow and Nasdaq futures continue their moderate downtrend from yesterday’s trading session at this hour.
Mark Vickery
Senior Editor
Note: In order to get an email alert each time this author publishes a new article, click on the ‘Follow Author’ link at the bottom of the top-right box of links.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
SPDR-SP 500 TR (SPY): ETF Research Reports
NASDAQ-100 SHRS (QQQ): ETF Research Reports
SPDR-DJ IND AVG (DIA): ETF Research Reports
AUTOMATIC DATA (ADP): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
