Forex News Update: (By CountingPips.com) – U.S. employment data released today in the form of the ADP National Employment Report showed that U.S. private employment declined unexpectedly in the month of February. The nonfarm private employment fell by 23,000 workers in February following the revised decline of 24,000 jobs in January. The January jobs data was revised slightly downwards from the original release of 20,000 jobs lost.
February’s decline was a surprise to market forecasters that were expecting an approximate increase of 40,000 jobs. Despite the decrease, the employment data marked the smallest monthly job loss since February 2008, according to the report.
The service-providing sector showed an increase of 28,000 jobs in February while the goods-producing sector fell by 51,000 jobs. Manufacturing had a loss of 9,000 jobs while construction jobs fell by 43,000 workers. All size of businesses cut jobs in February as large businesses lost 7,000 jobs, medium sized businesses shed 4,000 jobs and employment by small businesses dropped by 12,000.
The market-moving US Nonfarm Payrolls report for February is to be released Friday at 12:30 pm GMT with different market forecasts predicting a range anywhere from a gain of 10,000 jobs to a gain of 187,000 jobs.
Canadian GDP increases for a fifth month in a row.
The Canadian Gross Domestic Product rose for a fifth straight month in January, according to a report by Statistics Canada released today. The Canadian GDP increased in January by 0.6 percent following a revised rise of 0.5 percent in December. January’s GDP growth was better than market forecasts predicting a 0.5 percent advance for the month.
Contributing to the GDP gain was an increase in goods-producing industries by 1.3 percent. Within this sector, manufacturing activity rose by 1.9 percent in January while construction activity increased by 1.7 percent. Also contributing positively to the GDP report were gains in wholesale trade, finance & insurance, retail trade and mining and oil and gas extraction.
Negative contributors to the GDP numbers for January were real estate agents and brokers, agriculture and forestry and accommodation and food services.
