(Bloomberg News) Companies boosted payrolls in November by the most this year and U.S. businesses expanded at the fastest pace in seven months, giving the economy a lift as 2011 draws to a close.
Private employment, which excludes government jobs, climbed 206,000 this month, according to data today from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Employer Services. The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc.'s business barometer increased to 62.6 in November from 58.4 the prior month as orders and production strengthened.
"Things are shifting in the right direction for a faster pace of growth next year," said Carl Riccadonna, a senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. "New orders are rising, production is increasing and employment will likely improve." In addition, "central banks are taking the right steps," he said.
Stocks soared as six central banks including the Federal Reserve acted to make more funds available to lenders to preserve the global expansion in the wake of Europe's sovereign debt crisis. Another report showed the biggest gain in home- purchase contract signings in a year, adding to evidence the world's largest economy is withstanding the European slowdown.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index climbed 3.5 percent to 1,236.63 at 11:55 a.m. in New York. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.06 percent from 1.99 percent late yesterday.
Economists project the Labor Department to report in two days that private employment rose 150,000 in November, according to the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey.
Labor Department Data
Last month's initial ADP figures showed a 110,000 gain, while the Labor Department's data showed an increase of 104,000 in private payrolls for October. Today, ADP revised the October figure to a gain of 130,000.
German unemployment dropped more than forecast in November as companies' resilience to the euro area's debt woes showed no sign of cracking. The number of people out of work fell a seasonally adjusted 20,000 to 2.91 million, the Nuremberg-based Federal Labor Agency said today. The adjusted jobless rate dropped to 6.9 percent.
Companies in Europe's largest economy are adding workers even as the region's worsening fiscal crisis clouds growth prospects. While Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said today the euro-area economy may already be in a recession, German business confidence rose in November and consumers also became more optimistic.
Consumer Spending