Instant View: January private payrolls cut less than expected

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers cut 22,000 jobs in January, less than the 61,000 jobs lost in December, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday.

KEY POINTS: * ADP national employment report shows U.S. employment decreased by 22,000 private sector jobs in January * Reuters consensus forecast for ADP payroll change was for a decrease of 30,000 jobs * US ADP December payroll change revised to -61,000 from

-84,000

COMMENTS:

KEVIN CARON, MARKET STRATEGIST AT STIFEL, NICOLAUS & CO,

FLORHAM PARK, NEW JERSEY:

"It's not statistically meaningful relative to the expectations but the trend remains relatively decent. We saw also that last month 84,000 jobs lost in the ADP number was revised down to 61,000 so that is consistent with a positive trend. We expect the unemployment rate to remain around 10 percent on Friday and we would expect essentially no change in the non-farm payrolls."

TODD SCHOENBERGER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, LANDCOLT TRADING, SAN

ANTONIO:

"We had quite a bit of a run-up in stocks the last couple of days. Based on recent histories, the ADP report has not been parallel with the non-farm payrolls data. So don't be surprise if there is a sell-off in equities and a flight into Treasuries heading into Friday."

OMER ESINER, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST, TRAVELEX GLOBAL BUSINESS

PAYMENTS, WASHINGTON:

"The ADP was marginally better than expected and is largely consistent with a jobs market that's recovering at a gradual pace. The number also suggests a high likelihood of a positive print for the nonfarm payrolls number on Friday. Of course that would be broadly supportive of the recovery story and the U.S. dollar."

KATHY LIEN, DIRECTOR OF CURRENCY RESEARCH, GFT, NEW YORK:

"Overall, the market is taking ADP and Challenger reports as positive, especially ahead of the non-farm payrolls report on Friday. As a result, we are seeing the dollar outperform against many currencies today. We still have to wait to other data points, such as the jobs component of the ISM reading, but overall, the economy seems to be on the road to recovery."

DAVE SLOAN, SENIOR ECONOMIST, 4CAST LTD., NEW YORK:

"The trend continues to get less worse. This is consistent with job growth returning in the United States. There is some downside risk to that due to bad weather in January. I do believe the U.S. economy is now strong enough to create jobs."

STEVE GOLDMAN, MARKET STRATEGIST, WEEDEN & CO, GREENWICH,

CONNECTICUT:

"Slightly better than expected. Again, we don't know what the government report will be on Friday, but generally we're in line to slightly better than consensus, so for the market, this won't be a game changing report."

MARKET REACTION: STOCKS: U.S. stock index futures briefly turn positive BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices steady at lower levels DOLLAR: U.S. dollar extends gains versus yen