Pace of US job losses accelerates

The pace of job losses in the US private sector accelerated last month, with data from payrolls firm ADP showing that employers had cut 697,000 jobs in February, compared with a revised 641,000 for the month before.

The figure for January was originally reported at 522,000. The news was worse than expected, with economists anticipating a figure of around 610,000 for February. The report dampened sentiment before official US Government payrolls data, which is due at the end of this week and is expected to show that the world's largest economy shed 648,000 jobs last month.