On Wednesday, the markets were rocked by the resignation of National Economic Council director Gary Cohn. The Wall Street-friendly White House official stepped down over his disagreement with President Donald Trump’s proposal to institute a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum.
The market now fears that the Trump administration will enhance its protectionist rhetoric amid the rise of top trade adviser Peter Navarro.
It’s bad news all around, evident by the early morning selloff.
But there were other important economic releases midweek. Let’s take a look at the top three:
The U.S. private sector added 235,000 jobs in February, according to the latest ADP Research Institute employment report. The service sector provided 198,000 workers to payrolls, while Payrolls in goods-producing industries jumped 37,000.
In January, the trade deficit climbed five percent to $56.6 billion, reports the Department of Commerce. This was the highest level since October 2008. The biggest trade gaps were with China, which advanced 16.7 percent to $36 billion, and Canada, which surged 65 percent to $3.6 billion.
Fourth quarter productivity levels were better than expected, beating initial estimates of a 0.1 percent decline, reports the Labor Department. The price of labor per single unit of output increased at a 2.5 percent annualized rate.
At the time of this writing, the entire market is in the red. The Dow Jones shed 150 points, the S&P 500 tumbled 11 points, and the NASDAQ slipped 11 points. Gold fell $3.90 to $1,331.30 per ounce, and oil dipped $0.71 to $61.89 per barrel.
Keep up the good work Mr. President!