Private employers cut 32K jobs last month – hiking odds of interest rate cut as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick goes on defensive

Odds of an interest-rate cut at the Fed’s meeting next week jumped in the wake of disappointing November private payroll figures, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arguing President Trump’s tariffs were not to blame for the numbers.

US private payrolls lost 32,000 jobs last month – a sharp downward turn mostly accounted for by small businesses, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday. In contrast, October saw an upwardly revised increase of 47,000 jobs.

The November figure largely missed estimates across the board, as economists polled by FactSet expected a rise of 40,000, while those surveyed by Reuters and Bloomberg predicted gains of 10,000 and 5,000, respectively.

The odds of a quarter-point cut at the Fed’s Dec. 10 meeting jumped to nearly 89% follow