US: Private sector employment rises by 106K in January vs. 178K expected

Employment in US private sector grew at a softer pace than expected in January.
US Dollar continues to weaken against its rivals after the data.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

The data published by Automatic Data Processing (ADP) showed on Wednesday that private sector employment in the US rose by 106,000 in January. This reading followed December's growth of 253,000 (revised from 235,000) and missed the market expectation for an increase of 178,000 by a wide margin.

Commenting on the data, "in January, we saw the impact of weather-related disruptions on employment during our reference week,” noted Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP. "Hiring was stronger during other weeks of the month, in line with the strength we saw late last year."

Regarding wage inflation, "pay growth for job stayers held at 7.3% for the second month, with most industries little changed," ADP said in its publication. "One outlier was the information sector, where pay growth decelerated from 7% to 6.6%. For job changers, pay growth accelerated to 15.4 percent."

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index came under renewed bearish pressure after the disappointing data and was last seen losing 0.32% on the day at 101.75.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD remains on the back foot near 1.1750

EUR/USD is coming under renewed pressure, sliding towards multi-week lows in the mid-1.1700s on Thursday. The move lower reflects another strong session for the US Dollar, with the Greenback drawing fresh support from a batch of firm US data that reinforced its underlying bid.

GBP/USD drops further, hovers around 1.3460

GBP/USD is sliding in tandem with its risk-sensitive peers, drifting back towards the 1.3440 area, its lowest levels in around four weeks. The move reflects a firmer Greenback, supported by another round of solid US data, while a somewhat divided FOMC Minutes has added an extra layer of uncertainty around the Fed’s rate path, keeping Cable on the defensive.

Gold struggles to overcome $5,000

Gold is trading with humble gains on Thursday, hovering around the key $5,000 mark per troy ounce. The yellow metal remains underpinned by renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, even as a stronger US Dollar and rising US Treasury yields across the curve limit the upside and keep price action relatively contained.

Ripple slips toward $1.40 despite SG-FORGE tapping protocol for EUR CoinVertible

XRP extends its decline, nearing $1.40 support, as risk appetite fades in the broader market. SG-FORGE’s EUR CoinVertible launches on the XRP Ledger, leveraging the blockchain’s scalability, speed, security, and decentralization.

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.