ADP Signals Jobs Growth At The Start Of Trump Era

Nearly 246,000 jobs were added to the private sector in January, according to Wednesday's ADP report. The figure is the second highest since January 2016 and heralds a growth rate of about 63 percent over December’s 151,000 new jobs.

"The strong number is indicative of the solid health of the U.S. labor market and suggests that the long period of strong growth creation should now be accompanied by sustainably higher wage growth — this after a prolonged period of wage sluggishness," economist Mohamed El-Erian told Benzinga.

The financial sector responded positively to the report in pre-market activity.

Bank of America Corp BAC was trading up 1.41 percent at a value of $22.97, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM had risen 0.85 percent to a price of $85.45. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF — which had fallen steadily since Thursday — was up 0.77 percent.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY futures also rallied about 0.3 percent in pre-market trading, while SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) GLD fell about $5 per ounce.

The values are poised for continued volatility through the end of the week as the Bureau of Labor Statistics issues its weekly jobless report Thursday and payroll report Friday. The payroll numbers will be the first released under President Donald Trump.

Some estimate initial jobless claims of 250,000 — down 9,000 from the previous week — and continuing jobless claims are expected to drop 35,000 to a total of about 2,065,000.

Experts also anticipate a boom in the growth rate of private sector payrolls (169,000) and nonfarm payrolls (175,000).

Additionally, the unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.7 percent.