The Department of Labor released their monthly Jobs Report this morning, and it was disappointing.  Most expectations were that the economy created about 200 thousand jobs in March, down from about 240 thousand in February.  Instead, only 120 thousand jobs were created, the smallest gains in five months.  That’s bad news!

Some decrease from February was expected, because the winter has been so mild that outdoor workers were hired earlier than usual this year.  Nice weather in January and February borrowed jobs from March and probably April too.

However, the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.2%, which is good news.  Unfortunately, the workforce decreased 164 thousand jobs, which is bad news.

The combination of un-employed and under-employed dropped dramatically from 14.9% to 14.5%, which is very good news but more explanation is needed.

My gut tells me this month’s report will be substantially revised next month.  Some figures don’t make sense to me.  For example, retail jobs decreased at the same time as retail sales increased.  Also, health care jobs dropped sharply, which is very unusual.  Lastly, did the weather really borrow 80 thousand jobs from March and April?

While I don’t think the fat lady has sung on this report yet, the market certainly did.  Dow futures were up about 25 points before the report and were down about 140 points right afterwards.  Plus, interest rates dropped significantly, as investors fled stocks for the “safety” of government bonds.

The stock market is closed today, but I expect it will fall sharply first thing Monday morning.

Have a nice Easter weekend anyway!  You’ve seen worse news than this . . .