The ADP employment report out Wednesday shows U.S. private sector companies cutting 84,000 jobs in December.
That’s the fewest since March 2008, although it is the 23 month in a row of job slashing.
ADP revised its November jobs losses to 145,000, as compared to 169,000 as it reported initially.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its own non-farm payrolls employment report for December on Friday, and economists are expecting a modest gain in jobs, the first in two years.
Stocks are down despite the potentially positive news for the economy.
The dollar has stayed steady after the ADP report, and gold is moving modestly higher.
Gold stocks like Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), and Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) are trending higher in Wednesday trading.
For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Sayoko Murase.