US private companies added workers at a brisk clip in December, pointing to underlying strength in the economy despite signs that growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter.

Other data on Wednesday showed the US trade deficit narrowed in November likely as efforts by businesses to reduce an inventory overhang pushed imports of goods to their lowest level in nearly five years, outpacing a drop in exports.

Payrolls processor ADP said private-sector employment rose by 257,000 last month, the largest gain since December 2014, after increasing by 211,000 in November. However, the ADP data tends to overstate job gains in December because of a year-end accounting quirk.

“The labor markets are finishing the year with a bang, that’s for sure. December was also extraordinarily warm as well, which means the number may exaggerate the labor market strength,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

The ADP report, which was jointly developed with Moody’s Analytics, was released ahead of the government’s more comprehensive December employment report on Friday.

According to a Reuters survey of economists, nonfarm payrolls probably increased 200,000 last month, on top of the 211,000 jobs added in November.

The unemployment rate is seen unchanged at a 7-1/2-year low of 5 percent.

Labor market strength suggests the economy’s fundamentals remain healthy, and some economists say that could keep the US Federal Reserve on course to raise interest rates again in March.

The US central bank last month raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to between 0.25 percent and 0.50 percent, the first rate increase in nearly a decade.

US stock index futures were trading sharply lower on Wednesday, while prices for US government debt rose. The dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies.

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