The February jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics comes at a contradictory time for the U.S. economy. With the stock market hitting record highs, economic growth has stalled despite monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve. While planned job cuts were on the rise in February, the latest ADP private sector jobs report beat expectations, while Thursday’s jobless claims numbers pointed to continued improvement in labor markets. Analysts expects Friday’s non-farm payrolls number to come in above 160,000, yet the impact of winter storm Nemo, retail sales weakness, and big job cuts for Wall Street banks, along with the sequester, could negatively surprise markets.
The February jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics comes at a contradictory time for the U.S. economy. With the stock market hitting record highs, economic growth has stalled despite monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve. While planned job cuts were on the rise in February, the latest ADP private sector jobs report beat expectations, while Thursday’s jobless claims numbers pointed to continued improvement in labor markets. Analysts expects Friday’s non-farm payrolls number to come in above 160,000, yet the impact of winter storm Nemo, retail sales weakness, and big job cuts for Wall Street banks, along with the sequester, could negatively surprise markets.