ADP reports private sector employers added 147,000 jobs in October, the slowest pace since May. That was below expectations. Economists expected 170,000 jobs compared with the original estimate of 154,000 for September that was revised upward to 202,000. Businesses are having trouble filling open positions and there is weakness in construction, education, and mining . The gains were in the service sector with 165,000 jobs compared with 18,000 jobs lost for goods producers and 1,000 lost in manufacturing.
December gold rose 1.2%, to $1,303 an ounce. It closed at a one-month high yesterday after falling almost 3% in October. The Federal Open Market Committee wraps up its two-day meeting today. The meeting is not expected to deliver any change in policy, but could shed some light on the possibility of a rate increase. Currently, fed fund futures show a 60.8% probability that the Fed would raise the benchmark interest rate by a quarter point in December.
Serving the West Side first, I am Bill Roller of BR Capital for 1360 KUIK.
