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South Korea Remains MSCI Emerging Market Despite Reform Progress 
Gold Falls Below $4,000 as Strong Dollar and Fed Rate Hike Expectations Weigh on Prices 
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Wall Street Ends Mixed as Tech Stocks Struggle Ahead of Micron Earnings 
The economic slowdown, which became prominent in the fourth quarter of 2018, has spilled over to 2019. Anyone hoping for a rebound can shelve their expectation at least for the first quarter of 2019.
- Yesterday, U.S. ADP employment report was released. The report was a dismal one. According to the report, the U.S. economy added just 129,000 jobs, the lowest since September 2017.
- The U.S. manufacturing sector reported its first monthly job loss under the Trump Presidency, while the construction sector saw its third.
- The main job provider to the economy remains the services sector, which strongly suggests that the economic slump is continuing and might be gathering pace.
The above chart shows the three months average of numbers of jobs added to the economy by the services sector, which has been the main job provider in the United States since manufacturing started faltering back in 2001. And it clearly shows that the slowdown is prominent.
