LONDON, ENGLAND — President Trump claims he doesn't watch the stock market, he watches jobs.
Talking in London, Trump had been asked about tumbles on Wall Street amid growing concerns about the ongoing U.S. trade war with China. He stressed that he wants a trade deal with China, on his terms.Trump has often talked about strong Wall Street gains since he took office.
U.S. private sector job growth continues to decline as it reached a six-month low in November.According to the ADP National Employment report, just 67,000 jobs were created last month, which was less than half of what experts had forecast.
American firms have added an average of about 159,000 jobs per month in the last 12 months, the lowest since 2011. Most of November's job gains came from the services sector, and manufactured goods producers cut jobs for a third straight month.
Wall Street is continuing to ride the roller coaster of China trade news. Wednesday's story was positive, leading to a good day by the major benchmarks. It came a day after bad trade news sent the Dow into a triple-digit loss. Bloomberg reported yesterday that negotiators for the U.S. and China are making progress on a phase one trade deal.
That was enough for investors to overlook a poor jobs report in the private sector.The report said there were only 67,000 new hires in November, well below the 150,000 analysts expected. At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 147 points to end the day at 27-650. The S&P 500 gained 20 points to finish at 31-13.The Nasdaq increased 46 points to close at 85-67.