Private companies kicked off the new year with a hiring spree, according to the latest report from ADP and Moody's Analytics.

Amid an explosive month surrounding President Donald Trump's inauguration and the flurry of activity that followed, firms added 246,000 new workers to their payrolls, the report showed.

That compared to expectations of 165,000 from economists surveyed by Reuters and marked a substantial jump from the downwardly revised 151,000 — initially reported as 153,000 — in December. January also turned in the best single-month performance since June.

"I don't recall ever seeing such a discrepancy between print and estimate in this survey but ADP is saying there was seasonal issues with retail and moderate weather helped too," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, said in a note.



Moreover, the hiring wasn't as dominated by services as it's been in the past.