Bank Tightening Suggests Layoffs Ahead

The ADP Employment Report came in well below expectations and aligns with the general trend of weaker-than-expected US economic data since the start of last year.

Consider Private sector adds 156,000 jobs in April vs. 195,000 expected: ADP

Private job creation slowed even further last month as firms added just 156,000 jobs in April, ADP said in a Wednesday report.

"The job market appears to have stumbled in April. Job growth noticeably slowed, with some weakness across most sectors. One month does not make a trend, but this bears close watching as the financial market turmoil earlier in the year may have done some damage to business hiring," Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said in a statement.

Zandi is correct—one month does not make a trend, which is why we must look at other indicators to determine where US employment may be heading in the future.

Here is a chart of bank tightening to small, medium, and large firms (inverted), which, as we reported on Monday, shows that banks are now the tightest they've been since recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. It leads the ADP report by about 4 months and suggests that US employment will continue to trend downward with layoffs set to increase.

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