Weakening job growth could lock in an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week, according to economists.

Data from ADP, a payroll processor, is getting added attention because of delays in official statistics caused by the government shutdown.

Private-sector payrolls decreased by 32,000 in November, ADP reported, well below Wall Street’s estimate for an added 40,000 jobs, according to FactSet. That matches the largest single-month decline since March 2023.

Get live updates and the latest news as the Trump administration halts immigration from 19 countries and Republican Matt Van Epps wins the Tennessee special congressional election.

All three major U.S. stock indexes finished with back-to-back gains on Wednesday, with investors using November’s unexpectedly weak private-sector hiring report to solidify expectations for a quarter-point interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week.

Wall Street is looking for private equity firms to take a swath of their portfolio companies public in the hopes that the low boil of IPO activity since the pandemic will finally bubble over.

There have been 17 reports of alleged sexual assault or rape against Wolverhampton-licensed private hire drivers in the past three months, it has been revealed. With almost 33,900 private hire vehicles licensed by the local authority on the road this year - 96% of them outside the city - Wolverhampton has been dubbed the "taxi capital" of the UK and criticised by other councils.