The good news keeps rolling in today.
Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) released their October jobs report today which found that 158,000 jobs were added to the economy in October.
The ADP report Thursday is the first to be produced under a new partnership with the economics research firm Moody's Analytics. It incorporates a new methodology, but it remains to be seen whether its numbers turn out to be closer to the mark. [...]
The ADP report said firms of all sizes added jobs in October, with nearly half of the 158,000 added jobs coming from companies with 1,000 or more employees.
"October's job gains were in line with the average monthly gains of the past two years, with sturdy albeit less than stellar growth across most industries and company sizes," Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said in a release accompanying ADP's report. "Businesses have turned more cautious in recent months, but that has yet to impact their hiring and firing decisions."
The federal government seperately said initial jobless claims decreased by 9,000 to 363,000 last week. The U.S. Labor Department will release October unemployment figures on Friday.
Estimates released by ADP and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) have not paralleled each other in recent months, however they are expected to be a closer match for October. We'll know for sure tomorrow after the Bureau releases their report.
According to the LA Times the Dow Jones industrial rose by 77 points and the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 6 points immediately following the release of the ADP report.