FX.co ★ ADP employment report indicates downturn in the US

Over 8 million job vacancies went unnoticed in the US, according to the recent report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As for employment in the private sector, the ADP said it increased by only 177,000 in August, while personal income rose by 5.9% compared to last year.

Ian Shepherdson from Pantheon MacroEconomics noted that the layoff rate indicates a sharp slowdown in wage growth, so any further rate hike would be excessive, considering that all the consequences of the Fed's policy tightening have not yet been felt in the labor market.

In fact, although yesterday's employment report exceeded expectations, it came out much softer than the previous one. The revised ADP report for June showed an increase of 371,000.

Most likely, the upcoming employment report from the US Department of Labor and the PCE index will influence the Federal Reserve's decision, as currently, many assume that the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged at the September FOMC meeting.

The CME's FedWatch tool also said they see a 90% chance that the Fed will keep its interest rate in the range of 5.25% to 5.50%, and a 10% chance of a quarter-point rate hike.

The decrease in the number of vacancies led to a sharp rise in gold prices.

Dollar, meanwhile, continued to decline for the past three days.