ADP Employment Index Comes In Weaker Than Expected

The ADP Employment report was released Wednesday morning, showing a gain of 208,000 jobs, missing expectations of 225,000. October's number was revised up 3,000 to 233,000. The ADP report covers only the private sector, excluding government payrolls. It marks the sixth straight month of 200,000 gains in the ADP Employment report. Small business led the hiring, with a gain of 101,000, while medium-size businesses saw a gain of only 65,000, well below last month's gain of 122,000. The S&P 500 futures showed little reaction to the news, as the market awaits the beige book, PMI, and ISM later today. The December contract was down 1.00 point at 2065.