ADP jobs report beats forecasts again in February

The US private sector added more jobs than was expected in February, according to the ADP National Employment Report, which could have implications for Friday's closely watched non-farm payrolls report.

According to the payrolls consultant, 214,000 jobs were added during the month, compared with the January figure of 193,000 revised down from the initial 205,000 and beating economists' expectations for 190,000. The ADP headline number beat forecasts in both previous reports in 2016.

Companies involved in producing goods added roughly 5,000 of the jobs, down from 19,000 the month before as the manufacturing sector saw a 9,000 decline.

The services sector providing 208,000 of the new jobs, up from the revised print of 174,000 as stronger jobs creation in professional/business services to compensate from fewer additions to payrolls from trade, transportation and utilities firms and the financial sector.

"Despite the turmoil in the global financial markets, the American job machine remains in high gear," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

"Energy and manufacturing remain blemishes on the job market, but other sectors continue to add strongly to payrolls. Full-employment is fast approaching."

The ADP report usually sets the mood for the key Non-Farm Payroll data on Friday.

Barclays said that while it places limited weight on the ADP employment report, given the frequent revisions to the time series, the February report "points to a rebound in nonfarm payroll growth in Friday’s report" and so it maintained a NFP forecast of 200,000.

Capital Economics also dismissed the relationship between the ADP survey and the official non-farm payroll figures as "far from perfect" but acknowledged that "at the margin the ADP report suggests the balance of risks to our estimate that non-farm payrolls increased by 180,000 last month probably now lies on the upside".

As for the effect on expectations of a Fed rate raise, Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, said he felt the odds "look a lot better" compared to those a couple of weeks ago.