ADP Non-Farm Payrolls Unexciting – Dollar Drops

ADP Non-Farm Payrolls showed a rise of 201K  jobs. Early expectations stood on a rise of 205K – a small disappointment. The dollar loses some ground against major pairs following this release.

This report for the private sector has exceeded expectations in recent months. The strongest figure was for the month of December- a gain of 247K. Last month saw a gain of 208K (revised down from 217K) which exceeded modest estimations of 178K.

This report by ADP always rocks the market, and is considered by many people to be predictive of the official government Non-Farm Payrolls number released by the government on the following Friday.

While ADP usually shows a long term trend, there’s almost always a big difference between the ADP report and the official figure for the private sector. On the other hand, after revisions, the numbers get closer to each other – in recent months there were upwards revisions of the official NFP and downwards revisions of the ADP report.

Non-Farm Payrolls are expected to show a gain of nearly 200K jobs on Friday. Note that the government’s number consists also of public sector jobs.

Earlier, Challenger Job Cuts

EUR/USD trades higher, at 1.41 following the release. Euro/Dollar is still within the narrowing channel, and is yet to pick a direction for a breakout.

USD/JPY, that already crossed the 83 line, is now retreating. GBP/USD is also gaining against the greenback.

All the moves are relatively small.