U.S. employment data was released today in the form of the ADP National Employment Report and showed that U.S. private employment declined the most on record. March nonfarm private employment fell by 742,000 according to the ADP 
report and marked the highest decrease in jobs on a monthly basis since the ADP report started in 2001. Today’s employment report follows the February revised decline of 706,000 jobs and surpassed market forecasts that were expecting a decline of 663,000 jobs for the month.
The service-providing sector showed the largest decline for the month with a loss of 415,000 jobs while the goods-producing sector fell by 327,000 jobs. The manufacturing sector registered its 37th month in a row of employment decline with a loss of 206,000 jobs while construction jobs fell for the 26th straight month with a decline of 118,000 workers. All size of businesses slashed jobs in March as large businesses lost 128,000 jobs, medium sized businesses shed 330,000 jobs and small businesses dropped 284,000 jobs.
The market-moving US Nonfarm Payrolls report for March is to be released this Friday at 12:30 pm GMT with market forecasts predicting a decline of 659,000 jobs after February’s 651,000 decrease.
ISM Manufacturing data improves.
U.S. Manufacturing data, released today by the Institute for Supply Management, showed that manufacturing activity failed to grow in March for the fourteenth straight month but did edge up from February. March’s ISM Report On Business index readings for economic activity were at 36.3 percent following February’s 35.8 percent level. The March score did also slightly surpass economic forecasts which were expecting the ISM index reading to register 36.0 percent. A score above 50 percent is considered to be growth and less than 50 percent is considered to be a contraction.
Norbert J. Ore, chair of the ISM Business Survey Committee, commented on the report saying, “The rapid decline in manufacturing appears to have moderated somewhat, as the PMI remains in the mid-30s for a third consecutive month. While the PMI is slightly higher in March, the New Orders Index offers greater encouragement, as it rose above the 40-percent mark for the first time in seven months. The Production Index showed no benefit as yet from the improvement in new orders, as it continued to decline at a rate similar to March. The rate of decline in the Employment Index slowed slightly, and the same held true for the Prices Index. A special question was asked with regard to the Economic Stimulus Package, and five of the 18 manufacturing industries expect to derive some benefit from the stimulus.”
Most of the manufacturing sectors tracked for March showed improvement over the February report with supplier deliveries and inventories being the exceptions. Supplier deliveries fell by 3.1 percent for the month while inventories decreased by 4.8 percent in March.
New orders, production, employment, customer inventories, prices and the backlog of orders all showed increased readings for March. The exports index registered a 1.5 percent increase for March while imports also increased by 1.0 percent.
Pending Homes Sales in US increase.
U.S. Pending Homes sales rose more than expected for the month of February according to the monthly report produced by the National Association of Realtors. The NAR report showed that pending home sales contracts signed by buyers increased 2.1 percent in February following a 7.7 percent decline in January.
Market forecastors had predicted the sales data would show no change or remain flat for the month. The pending home sales level is 1.4 percent below the February 2008 level.
NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun commented in the report about the increased sales figures this month, “Pending home sales have a way to go for there to be a meaningful increase, but recent increases in shopping activity are hopeful indicators that we’ll see additional sales gains.”
On the state of the housing market, Yun contented that, “More buyers are getting into the market to take advantage of stimulus incentives and much improved housing affordability conditions, but it will take a few months before we could see this turn up in measurable sales contract activity.”
US Dollar mostly lower in forex trading.
The U.S. dollar has been under pressure in forex trading against the major currencies so far today. The dollar has fallen against the euro, Australian dollar, British pound, Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar and Canadian dollar while trading higher against the Swiss franc.
The euro has advanced versus the dollar as the EUR/USD has gone from today’s 1.3209 opening exchange rate at 00:00 GMT to trading at approximately 1.3233 in the late afternoon of the US trading session at 4:12pm EST according to currency data by Oanda.
The British pound has increased today versus the American currency from 1.4299 to trading at 1.4445 dollars per pound. The dollar has decreased against the Canadian dollar after the USD/CAD’s opening at 1.2674 earlier today to trading at 1.2620 later in the day.
The Australian dollar has also traded higher versus the USD as the AUD/USD trades at 0.6979 after opening today at 0.6887 while the New Zealand dollar has gained versus the USD and trades at 0.5671 after opening at 0.5572.
The dollar has decreased slightly against the Japanese yen today as the USD/JPY has edged down from its 98.69 opening to trading at 98.61.
Meanwhile, the USD has advanced against the Swiss franc today as the USD/CHF has gained from the 1.1428 opening to trading at 1.1460.
AUD/USD Chart – The Australian Dollar advancing today against the US Dollar in Forex Trading and trading right above its 55-period simple moving average(purple).
