|

US ADP September Preview: Payrolls rise, correlation and interest falls

  • Private payrolls expected to rise 648,000 in September.
  • August at 428,000 less than half the 950,000 forecast.
  • Correlation with Non-farm Payrolls has declined sharply post-COVID-19.
  • Market impact has declined with disconnect from NFP.

Private payrolls from Automatic Data Processing are forecast to rise by 648,000 in September after adding 428,000 in August.

Correlation declines

The correlation of the ADP employment change figures with Non-farm Payrolls, which is its chief market value, has fallen sharply in the five months since the recovery began in May.

ADP payrolls

FXStreet

Forecasts for both ADP and NFP missed the labor market turn in May.  Following the huge job losses in April predictions were for those to continue, ADP was expected to shed 9 million more workers and NFP 8 million.   In fact NFP gained 2.699 million employees that month while the initial ADP number showed a loss of 2.76 million positions.   It did not help ADP accuracy that the revision to the May number added 6.101 million bringing it to 3.341 million.

Similar discrepancies occurred in June, ADP initial result 2.369 million, NFP 4.971 million, ADP revision 4.485 million, and July ADP first release 167,000, NFP 1.734 million, ADP second release 212,000.

In August ADP was 428,000 and NFP was 1.371 million. The revision for August’s ADP will be issued with the September statistic.

Conclusion

The September estimates of 648,000 for ADP and 850,000 for NFP may represent a return of the historical relationship between these two US employment numbers. But even if these number end in agreement for September it will require more than one month or several until the markets trust ADP on Wednesday to front for NFP on Friday.

NFP 

FXStreet

Premium

You have reached your limit of 3 free articles for this month.

Start your subscription and get access to all our original articles.

Subscribe to PremiumSign In

Author

Joseph Trevisani

Joseph Trevisani began his thirty-year career in the financial markets at Credit Suisse in New York and Singapore where he worked for 12 years as an interbank currency trader and trading desk manager.

More from Joseph Trevisani
Share:

Markets move fast. We move first.

Orange Juice Newsletter brings you expert driven insights - not headlines. Every day on your inbox.

By subscribing you agree to our Terms and conditions.

Editor's Picks

EUR/USD flatlines below 1.1800 amid trading lull, awaits Fed Minutes

EUR/USD trades around a flatline below 1.1800 in European trading on Tuesday. The pair lacks any trading impetus as the US Dollar moves little amid market caution ahead of the Fed's December Meeting Minutes release, which could offer insights into the Federal Reserve’s 2026 outlook.

GBP/USD retakes 1.3500 despite the year-end grind

GBP/USD finds fresh demand and retakes 1.3500 on Tuesday as markets grind through the last trading week of the year. Despite the latest uptick, the pair is unlikely to see further progress due to the year-end holiday volumes.

Gold holds the bounce on Fed rate cut bets, safe-haven flows

Gold holds the rebound near $4,350 in the European trading hours on Tuesday. The precious metal recovers some lost ground after falling 4.5% in the previous session, which was Gold's largest single-day loss since October. Increased margin requirements on gold and silver futures by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, one of the world’s largest trading floors for commodities, prompted widespread profit-taking and portfolio rebalancing.

Tron steadies as Justin Sun invests $18 million in Tron Inc.

Tron (TRX) trades above $0.2800 at press time on Monday, hovering below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $0.2859.

Economic outlook 2026-2027 in advanced countries: Solidity test

After a year marked by global economic resilience and ending on a note of optimism, 2026 looks promising and could be a year of solid economic performance. In our baseline scenario, we expect most of the supportive factors at work in 2025 to continue to play a role in 2026.

Crypto market outlook for 2026

Year 2025 was volatile, as crypto often is.  Among positive catalysts were favourable regulatory changes in the U.S., rise of Digital Asset Treasuries (DAT), adoption of AI and tokenization of Real-World-Assets (RWA).