INSTANT VIEW - U.S. private employment drops unexpectedly

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. private employers cut 23,000 jobs in February, a report by a private employment service said on Wednesday.

Story: ID:nWEN4334

KEY POINTS: * That was down from the downwardly revised 119,000 for January. The report by ADP Employer Services was jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC. * The median of estimates from 30 economists surveyed by Reuters was for the ADP report to show 20,000 new private-sector jobs in February.

COMMENTS:

SHAUN OSBORNE, CHIEF CURRENT STRATEGIST, TD SECURITIES,

TORONTO:

"The ADP report has given us a heads up that the jobs report on Friday could be worse than expected. All the other jobs indicators are also consistent with a softening U.S. labor market. We did see the dollar go down. But I think we are still in a consolidation range. I think the market would be hesitant to push it higher ahead of the ECB meeting on Thursday. That said, the euro going into Friday remains well-supported."

MARKET REACTIONS: BONDS: U.S. Treasury debt prices extended their rise. STOCKS: U.S. stock index futures pared gains. CURRENCIES: The dollar pared its session gain against the euro and yen.