Stateside job creation at the company level cooled in February after a sizzling start to 2019, this from a report Wednesday from ADP and Moody's Analytics.
Private companies added 183,000 workers for the month, about in line with Dow Jones estimates of 185,000.
Though the number marked a deceleration, it came with some good news: ADP and Moody's sharply increased their count for January, raising the originally reported number of 213,000 all the way up to 300,000.
Still, one economist thinks the decline in February could indicate that the jobs market has peaked, adding that said he sees first-quarter economic growth coming in around 0.3%.
The report comes two days ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report, which is expected to show an increase of 180,000 and an easing in the unemployment rate to 4%. Economists occasionally will use the ADP/Moody's count to adjust their estimates, though the closeness of the two numbers makes that seem unlikely.
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