Highlights of the May ADP US employment report:

  • Best reading since January
  • Prior was 169K (revised to 165K)
  • 192K services
  • Goods +9K
  • Small businesses 122k vs 94k prior
  • Medium bus 65k vs 70k prior
  • Large bus 13k vs 5k prior
  • Manufacturing -5k vs -10k prior
  • Financial 12k vs 34k prior
  • Construction 27k vs 23k prior

It's not often that a report hits that close to consensus. The US dollar is 10-15 pips higher on the release; that's a sign that the market was a bit skittish about the report ahead of time. It's also a sign that US dollar bulls were looking for any reason to buy.