Market Strategy Radar Screen Weekly - March 7, 2016

So Far so Good

But we’ll keep the party hats in the box even as we’ve enjoyed the market’s ride higher

• Construction spending (up 1.5% in January vs. economist survey expectations for +0.3%);
• The ADP Employment change (up 214K vs. 190K expected);
• The change in private payrolls (230,000 added vs. 190,000 forecast); and
• The Labor Department’s non-farm payroll number for February (242,000 versus 195,000 forecast).

The aforementioned better than anticipated numbers handily offset mixed and even disappointing numbers in:

• Average hourly earnings, which rose 2.2% vs. an expected gain of 2.5%;
• A 16,000 drop in manufacturing jobs (vs. expectations for a drop of just 1,000 jobs);
• A smaller than expected increase in factory orders (1.5% vs. 2.1%);

It was the non-farm payroll number for February in particular that appeared to push investors’ lingering worries aside (at least for the time being) resulting in stocks rising higher in the week that closed out the month of February and brought in March–the last month of the first quarter.

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