By Geoffrey Smith

-- The U.S. private sector significantly slowed its hiring in March as last year's string of interest rate hikes took an ever-greater toll on activity, payrolls processor ADP said on Wednesday.

ADP said private-sector employment rose by around 145,000 through the middle of last month, a sharp slowdown from 261,000 in February and well below expectations for a gain of 200,000.

The numbers are the latest to indicate that a labor market that stayed red hot all through last year is now cooling fast. They follow hard on the heels of a Labor Department report showing that job vacancies fell to their lowest level in 21 months in February, dipping below 10 million for the first time since May 2021.