Total private sector employment beat the forecast rising by 183,000 jobs from January to February, according to the ADP National Employment Report.
Forecasts for the change in nonfarm private payrolls ranged from a low of 145,000 to a high of 191,000. The consensus forecast was 165,000.
“The labor market remains firm, as private-sector payrolls continued to expand in February,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Job creation remained heavily concentrated in large companies, which continue to be the strongest performer.”
Small businesses added 24,000 jobs during the month, while medium- and large-sized businesses added 26,000. and 133,000, respectively.
“COVID-19 will need to break through the job market firewall if it is to do significant damage to the economy,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, said. “The firewall has some cracks, but judging by the February employment gain it should be strong enough to weather most scenarios.”
The goods producing sector added just 11,000 jobs, including 18,000 that were partially offset by slight losses in manufacturing and natural resources and mining.
Worth noting, total construction spending came in far stronger than the expected forecast for January.
The service-providing sector added 172,000 jobs, led education/health services (+46,000), leisure/hospitality (+44,000) and professional/business services (+38,000).
Job ad in a newspaper – We are hiring
The matched sample used to develop the ADP National Employment Report was derived from ADP payroll data, which represents 460,000 U.S. clients employing nearly 26 million workers in the U.S. The January total of jobs added was revised down from 291,000 to 209,000.
President Donald J. Trump speaks on the phone with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Jan. 27, 2017.
Washington (PPD) — President Donald Trump will not support a a clean reauthorization of government surveillance powers granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The White House told Republican lawmakers there must be significant reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC).
The president will support only a temporary, 30-day extension of the program intended to give the U.S. Congress time to hammer out reforms.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) allows intelligence agencies to collect information on foreign targets abroad. It also created the FISC.
Supporters argued there were rigorous safeguards and robust restrictions on FISA. Critics argued the court served only as a rubber stamp. Of 1,080 requests in 2018, only one application was denied.
In December, the secret spy court issued an unprecedented public rebuke of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for its handling of warrant applications used to spy on the Trump campaign.
Judge Rosemary Collyer, the presiding judge of the FISC, was responding to the blistering report issued by the Justice Department (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG). She called the actions of the FBI “antithetical to the heightened duty of candor” owed to the court.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz found seven “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in just the first of four total warrant applications. The latter three applications contained ten additional major inaccuracies.
The DOJ admitted there was “insufficient predication to establish probable cause” to spy on Carter Page, an unsealed court filing revealed in January.
Judge James Boasberg, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), penned and issued the order ruling the warrants were “not valid” on January 7.
However, the White House is suspicious of the court’s ability to reform itself and questions whether it is genuine. Supporters of the president argue that suspicion is warranted.
Judge Boasberg appointed David Kris to review the FBI’s proposed changes to its surveillance application process. He spent the past three years running as a media apologist for the FBI.
Kris, who served as assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s National Security Division, claimed the IG report vindicated the FBI. In 2018, he smeared Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., after the former intelligence committee chairman blew the whistle on FISA abuse.
He frequently pushed the debunked “Russia Collusion” narrative during appearances on Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, in the Lawfare blog, and on Twitter. While defending the FBI, he attacked President Trump and other critics of surveillance abuse.
Kris once posted in a thread on Twitter that the president “should be worried” about Special Counsel Robert Mueller and repeated “the walls are closing in.”
“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” he opined on Twitter.
I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in. 6/6
In truth, the Mueller investigation failed to find evidence of treasonous collusion with Russia, “despite multiple offers.”
According to Senator Rand Paul, R-Kty., the White House will not be relying on Kris to ensure adequate reforms to the abused government surveillance program.
“Just got back from the White House. @realDonaldTrump made it abundantly clear that he will NOT accept a clean reauthorization of the Patriot Act without significant FISA reform! I agree with him!”
Just got back from the White House. @realDonaldTrump made it abundantly clear that he will NOT accept a clean reauthorization of the Patriot Act without significant FISA reform! I agree with him!
Bernie Sanders Wins 4 States, Including Biggest Delegate Prize in California
Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks after his comeback on Super Tuesday, March 3, 2020. (Photo: Screenshot)
Joe Biden scored victories in nine states from Texas to Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, while Bernie Sanders won four states including California. The former vice president’s comeback was fueled by a party establishment consolidating in an effort to stop the socialist senator from Vermont, who claimed the largest delegate prize in The Golden State.
The fruit of the party’s efforts were clear in the exit polls and voter analysis, which showed late deciders fueled surprise wins in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas, and larger than expected wins in North Carolina and Virginia.
In eight states, late deciders made up roughly half of the electorate.
In Minnesota, Biden was pushed to victory by hometown Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who until a few days ago shared the so-called “moderate” lane. She dropped out and endorsed alongside Pete Buttigieg.
The biggest losers of the night were Michael Bloomberg and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
The billionaire and former mayor of New York City spent $500 million and won only American Samoa. He bet it all on the prediction Biden would falter, which he did. But following a terrible debut debate performance, voters had no confidence in Bloomberg to defeat Donald Trump.
In a crushing and embarrassing defeat, Warren lost her own home state. However, it was expected to back Sanders, and she largely played the role of spoiler as she did for her fellow progressive in several states, including Texas, Oklahoma, and Maine.
The latter, while still not called, is currently favoring Biden.
This article will be updated as more results are tallied
President Donald J. Trump speaks to young conservative activists at CPAC 2020 in National Harbor, Maryland on February 29, 2020. (Photo: People’s Pundit Daily)
President Donald Trump will donate his fourth quarter (Q4) 2019 salary to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to combat the coronavirus. White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on Tuesday made the announcement on Twitter.
“President @realDonaldTrump made a commitment to donate his salary while in office,” she tweeted. “Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus.”
President @realDonaldTrump made a commitment to donate his salary while in office. Honoring that promise and to further protect the American people, he is donating his 2019 Q4 salary to @HHSGov to support the efforts being undertaken to confront, contain, and combat #Coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/R6KUQmBRl1
The president is required by law to be paid. But he has made good on his campaign pledge to donate his $100,000 salary each quarter.
In Q3 2019, it was donated to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health to help fight the nation’s opioid crisis. In Q2 2019, he donated his salary to the surgeon general’s office.
The U.S. Department of Education (Q2 2017) among others has also benefited from the pledge.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December. It has infected more than 92,000 worldwide and killed more than 3,100. Seven Americans have died from the virus as of writing this article.
Dow Jones, S&P 500 Post Single Largest Point Gains Ever
Stock market averages began the month of March with a day for the record books, immediately after a week of record-setting price action to close out the month of February.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) posted its single largest point gain ever of +1,293.76 or +5.1% to close at 26,703.32. This came only 2 days after the the DJIA posted its single largest point loss of -1,190.95 or -4.4% on Thursday, February 27.
TheS&P 500 (^SPX) was +136.00 or +4.6% to close at 3,090.23 and also logged its largest 1-day point gain ever. It was the largest percentage gain since December 26, 2018. For the S&P 500, this comes one day after posting a weekly decline of -11.5%, only its fifth weekly decline of -10% or more since it was introduced as a market benchmark by Standard and Poors in 1957.
The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) closed up +384.80, or +4.49% at 8,952.16.
The beginning of what might become a “V” shaped technical reversal is very reminiscent of what occurred during the last two weeks of 2018.
From December 13, 2018 to December 24, the DJIA and S&P 500 had declines of -11.4% and -11.3% over seven trading days.
On December 26, the following day, the DJIA rallied +1,086 points or +4.98%, almost exactly matched by the S&P 500, which gained +116.60 points or +4.96%.
While the fundamental backdrop of today and late 2018 are very different, the very sharp rebound after a five- and seven-day decline has been eerily similar, at least for one day.
Stay tuned. No doubt there is much more volatility to come.
Construction Spending Gained 1.8% Monthly, 6.8% Year-Over-Year
Total construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,369.2 billion, 1.8% (±0.8%) higher than the revised December estimate of $1,345.5 billion.
That’s 6.8% (±1.3%) higher than the January 2019 estimate of $1,282.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Monday.
Construction planning drawings on the table and two yellow pencils
Private Construction
Spending on private construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,022.7 billion, 1.5% (±0.7%) higher than the revised December estimate of $1,007.6 billion.
Residential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $554.8 billion in January, a gain of 2.1% (±1.3%) from the revised December estimate of $543.6 billion.
Nonresidential construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $468.0 billion in January, 0.8% (±0.7%) higher than the revised December estimate of $464.1 billion.
Public Construction
The estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate for public construction spending came in at $346.5 billion, 2.6% (±1.5%) higher than the revised December estimate of $337.8 billion.
Educational construction came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $81.5 billion, which is 0.7% (±1.8%) higher than the revised December estimate of $80.9 billion.
Highway construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $103.9 billion, 5.4% (±4.6%) above the revised December estimate of $98.6 billion.
Exit Polls Project Likud to Win 36-37 Seats, Kahol Lavan Trails at 32-33; Right-Wing Bloc Projected to Win 60 Seats
Graphic concept of Israeli voters in a line crowd silhouette behind an Israeli flag voting for an election. (Photo: AdobeStock)
UPDATE: With 93% of the voted counted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu’s Likud Party retains a three-seat lead over Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan, 35 to 32.
The Arab alliance Joint List remains the third-largest party with 15 seats. Avigdor Lieberman and Yisrael Beiteinu have seven seats.
Altogether, the prime minister’s bloc is projected to have 59 seats in the Knesset compared to the 54 seats for Gantz’s coalition. A 61-seat majority is needed to form a coalition government.
However, there are roughly 340,000 ballots remaining to be counted from those voting outside regular polling stations, such as soldiers, prisoners, hospital patients, and foreign diplomats.
While voting ended at 10 P.M. on Monday, the final results have been delayed due to new procedures enacted before and for this latest election, the nation’s third in a year. There is also the issue of counting the ballots of voters quarantined for coronavirus.
Final vote tallies are expected late Tuesday.
UPDATE: With 90% of the votes counted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party retains a four-seat lead over Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan.
The Joint List holds its 15 seats, followed by Orthodox Shas with 10. United Torah Judaism holds 7 seats.
At 59 seats, the right-wing bloc is two seats shy from a majority to form a government. The center-left bloc currently has 54 seats, and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu has 7.
UPDATE: With 31% of votes counted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc is projected to win 66 seats, 5 more than needed for a majority. Likud leads with 36 seats, while Kahol Lavan has 29 seats.
The Joint List — an Arab-majority alliance — is holding as the third largest party with 12 seats. United Torah Judaism and Shas each are projected at 11 seats.
Yamina has 8 seats, Labor-Gesher-Meretz has 7, and Yisrael Beiteinu 6.
But these results can change as more votes are counted.
PRIOR UPDATE: With 17.7% of votes counted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc is projected to win 58 seats, just two shy of a majority.
ORIGINAL STORY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud is projected to win 36 to 37 seats out of 120, according to exit polls for the nation’s third election in a year. While Likud Party is expected to become Israel’s largest party, they are followed by Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan with 32 to 33 seats.
While Likud Party is expected to become Israel’s largest party, neither Netanyahu nor his chief rival Mr. Gantz are projected to win a clear majority in the Knesset after the highest turnout election in more than two decades.
Voting ended at 10 P.M., and official results are expected as early as Monday overnight. At 8 P.M. local time, voter turnout already stood at 65.6%, which was 1.9 percentage points higher than turnout in September and the highest since 1999.
Ayman Odeh, the co-chairman of the Joint List, told Israel’s News 12 “Kahol Lavan failed because of our racist attitude toward us.”
MK Ofer Shelah, the 8th highest rank in Kahol Lavan, agreed with the caveat the exit polls are accurate. Worth noting, exit polls have traditionally underestimated the strength of Likud.
“If these are the results, then yes, it’s a failure,” he said.
Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and the left-wing alliance Labor-Gesher-Meretz both appear to have lost seats. The Joint List — an Arab-majority alliance — is projected to hold as the third largest party.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has already begun to hold talks aimed at forming a coalition government. Likud said the prime minister spoke with the heads of all right-wing factions and agreed to form a “strong national government for Israel” as soon as possible.
It’s Now About Depriving Sanders the Needed Delegates to Clinch Nomination
2020 Democratic Candidates for Super Tuesday from left to right: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, and Elizabeth Warren.
Not that it wasn’t expected, but corporate media coverage after South Carolina has been a real disservice. It’s partly the horse race model that dictates coverage of U.S. elections, but also partly a bias, corruption and just good old fashion stupidity and ignorance.
Here’s the real state of the race after Joe Biden’s expected win in South Carolina.
The current delegate count after South Carolina is 58 for Bernie Sanders and 51 for Joe Biden. The only other candidate who has thus far been competitive — Pete Buttigieg at 26 — dropped out on Sunday.
But the delegate count is misleading and the real state of the race is very much a simple question of whether Democrats can deny Sanders the 1,991 pledged delegates needed to outright win the nomination on the first ballot.
When all the votes are counted after Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders is going to have wins in the West, Midwest, and Northeast. He will have the best electoral argument as it relates to the primary voter, regardless of whether that translates into general election appeal.
Joe Biden will have outsized wins in the South, the one region of the country and electoral map in which the eventual nominee will have no chance to win come November.
The Biden Coalition is still not a minority coalition. It isn’t even a Black Democrat Coalition. It is a Southern Black Democrat Coalition.
Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia — all states with large numbers of Black Democrats — have a combined 325 delegates. But so far, Biden has been unable to put together the Clinton Coalition that beat back the Sanders surge in 2016.
In truth, Sanders has done very well among Black Democrats outside of the South. He outperformed among the small minority of black voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and came in just behind Biden in Nevada.
It’s not at all clear whether North Carolina and Virginia will mirror South Carolina.
Even if Biden sweeps these states, Sanders could wipe away those gains in California, alone. The Golden State awards its 415 delegates based on congressional district and polls suggest he may be the only viable candidate.
Compounding Biden’s challenges is the matter of early voting.
More than 7 million votes have been cast in early voting in Super Tuesday states. Of them, more than 4.5 million are in California and Texas.
Bernie’s dominant position among Hispanic voters means he is favored to win both of the largest delegate prizes of the night. In order to make this a race, Biden would need to score an upset in The Lone Star State, meaning he would need to demonstrate he can add Hispanics to his coalition.
It’s not impossible. But there’s no evidence to suggest he can at this point.
So, the real state of the race is a clear advantage for Bernie Sanders, though it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which he will get to the needed number of delegates to clinch the nomination. That leaves the Democratic Party with a difficult choice to make, one which already sounds made.
The Survey of Consumers final reading on consumer sentiment for February ticked higher to 101.0, up from 100.9 and higher than the consensus forecast.
The forecasts for consumer sentiment ranged from a low of 100.4 to a high of 102.0. The consensus forecast was 100.9.
The coronavirus was mentioned by just 8% of all consumers during the entire month of February when asked to cite the reasons for their economic expectations. However, the final two days of February saw readings as high as 20%, fueled by the decline in the stock market.
“While too few cases were conducted to attach any statistical significance to the findings, it is nonetheless true that the domestic spread of the virus could have a significant impact on consumer spending,” Richard Curtain, the chief economist at the Survey of Consumers, said.
“Importantly, the early indications suggested only a very modest impact as the Sentiment Index among consumers who mentioned the coronavirus was still quite high (just over 90.0).”
In other words, even consumers concerned about the impact of the coronavirus are still very optimistic about their future economic prospects. But if the virus spreads into U.S. communities, consumers are likely to limit their public interactions in brick-and-mortar stores, movie theaters, restaurants, sporting events, air travel, etc.
“There is likely to be some advance buying and increased online shopping, but much of the discretionary spending may not occur,” Mr. Curtain added. “To be sure, there is no reason to anticipate that consumers will engage in such extreme measures at this time.”
The best indication of whether there exists a public panic is the level of confidence consumers have in the government’s response. As of now, confidence in government economic policy is at a nearly two-decade high.
The preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for March is scheduled to be released on Friday, March 13, 2020.
You have %%pigeonMeterAvailable%% free %%pigeonCopyPage%% remaining this month. Get unlimited access and support reader-funded, independent data journalism.
