just two days ahead of a labor department's december jobs report, the payroll firm adp said a far better than expected 238,000 private sector jobs were added in the month of december, the most in 13 months. nearly 11 million americans, though, remain out of work. but the hopeful moves in the labor market were not lost on the federal reserve. and minutes from the central bank's latest meetings show that part of the reason the fed decideded to start tapering its stimulus program is the improving employment picture. steve liesman has more. >> the minutes of the federal reserves december meeting showing a majority of policymakers favor a measured cautious approach to reducing the stimulus program known as quantitative easing. the fed reduced the amount of bond purchases by $10 billion to $75 billion a month. the impression left by the minutes there were strong views on both sides. but the compromise position is for $10 billion reductions along with a stronger promise to keep interest rates low in the future. several workers concerned about the high unemployment rate and low inflation, that g

the dow down 65, coming off of yesterday's rally when the stocks had their best day of 2014. >>> payroll firm adporting 238,000 private sector jobs created in december. that's the best reading in 13 months. november figures also revised upwards. the report is a prelude to the closely watched jobs report. >>> in less than two hours we'll learn more about why the federal reserve decided to pull back on their stimulus program. policy makers surprising the financial world in december. central bank is set to release the minutes of that meeting this afternoon. >>> butter is back. the american butter institute saying consumption hitting a 40-year high in 2012. 25% more than just ten years ago, butter's bounce comes as consumers turn to natural foods. >>> for many the american treatment is dream is out of reach. washington now trying to close the gaps between the haves and the have nothings. >> reporter: this is the america u.s. politicians like to talk about, one of upward mobility, promise and wealth. >> the wealthiest nation onneth. >> but 50 years ago president lyndon johnson had a different perspect

the economy which is 7,000 less than last year. adp, which is a private forecasting firm came out on wednesday and they actually estimated that the payroll report today would be 238 thousand. so the 74 is 164 thousand difference. that is the largest difference you've had in 2 or 3 years. the average difference this year was 18 thousand for those two reports, so it's tiny. if you look at adp for the full year it was 2 million, 154 jobs added. >>so we're clearly going to see some kind of significant revision. in fact, the numbers that we get for january could be much higher. >>i think so. i've talked about ism on this show over and over again. if you look at those 2 employment indexes in the month of december, they both were above 55. in fact, if you combine them they were 56. in past periods, when you've had that type of optimism in the manufacturing sector, you've had 240 thousand average job growth. so, it's not consistent. it's not the same all the time but on average it's about 240 so it should be revised higher. >>let's assume you're right. what about growth for 2014? any sense about that? >>i actually think growth is getting better.

closely at your paycheck, it comes from a company called adp, it's a processing firm, handles payroll companies, including ours. adp says, in thet month, it's had to process more than 230,000 more paychecks from the month previous. that's a goo%lgndication of how many jobs added to the economy. we get the real number friday. the preview is encouraging. >>> marissa mayer had her first keynote last night. everything went well. she spoke before a massive crowd in las vegas where she introduced new employees, katie couric and david pogue of "the new york times." two people who will help mayer turn yahoo! from a second place certain site to media centric site. the show is famous for major announcements and sometimes relatively minor announcements. last year the fork, which we told you about, it tells you you're eating too quickly, buzzes, one of the most covered new technologies. ces kind of reminds me of the fashion shows where designs show off the latest creations and everybody says, i think big white hats are going to be the thing this year and then nobody ever wears big white hats in real life because they're kind of ridiculous.