ADP SURVEY: 195,000 JOBS WERE ADDED LAST MONTH

U.S. businesses added a healthy 195,000 jobs last month, a sign that companies are still hiring at a solid pace despite the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war with China.

Payroll processor ADP said Thursday that hiring occurred broadly among small, mediumsized and large businesses, compared with recent months when large firms had dominated. Health care, restaurants and hotels, and professional services all added jobs at a robust pace. Manufacturing added 8,000, despite other data that shows factory output is contracting.

Strong hiring, as long as it continues, can fuel solid growth in consumer spending, the primary driver of the economy. That would propel growth even as businesses have cut back on spending and exports have fallen amid the trade war.

The ADP’s figures don’t include government hiring and frequently diverge from the government’s official report, which is scheduled to be released Friday. Economists expect that report will show 160,000 jobs were added in August.

Long-tErm mortgAgE rAtEs Dip; 30-yEAr loAn At thrEE-yEAr low oF 3.49%.

WASHINGTON» U.S. longterm mortgage rates fell this week, with the average on the key 30-year loan reaching its lowest point in nearly three years.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on the 30-year mortgage declined to 3.49% from 3.58% last week.

The average rate hadn’t been that low since October 2016. A year ago, it stood at 4.54%.

The average rate for 15-year, fixed-rate home loans slipped to 3% from 3.06% last week.

Mortgage rates have fallen sharply as a slowing global economy and tension from the trade war between the U.S. and China have caused interest rates on government bonds to tumble. The yields on government bonds influence long-term mortgage rates.

Lower mortgage rates should help American homebuyers.

Johnson sEEks U.K. ElECtion BiD As PM’s politiCAl FoEs push BACk.

LONDON» Boxed in by opponents and abandoned politically even by his own brother, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struggled Thursday to keep his Brexit plans on track, and he accused lawmakers of thwarting democracy by blocking his call for a new election.

Johnson remained determined to secure an election after lawmakers rejected his attempt to trigger a snap poll and moved to stop him taking the U.K. out of the European Union next month without a divorce deal. House of Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told Parliament that a vote would be held Monday on a new motion calling for an election in October.

It’s uncertain whether it will pass, with opposition parties divided over whether to agree to an election now.

Johnson said he would “rather be dead in a ditch” than delay Brexit any further, and insisted that whether or not Great Britain left the EU as planned on Oct. 31 must be “a matter for the people of this country to decide.”

“I don’t want an election at all, but frankly I cannot see any other way,” he said, flanked by cadets at a police academy on what felt very much like an election campaign stop.