Stock Market Update

Equity futures point to a modestly higher start to the first full week of the second quarter.

The intense focus on developments in the Middle East has drawn attention away from the Employment Situation report for March, which was released on Friday morning and handily beat expectations. The report showed much stronger-than-expected Nonfarm Payrolls (178,000; Briefing.com consensus 51,000) and Nonfarm Private Payrolls (186,000; Briefing.com consensus 51,000), a dip in the Unemployment Rate (4.3%; Briefing.com consensus 4.4%; prior 4.4%), below-consensus Average Hourly Earnings growth (0.2%; Briefing.com consensus 0.4%; prior 0.4%), and a dip in Average Workweek (34.2; Briefing.com consensus 34.3; prior 34.3).

The report also revealed some sizable revisions to past readings with February nonfarm payrolls revised down to -133,000 from -92,000 and nonfarm private payrolls revised down to -129,000 from -86,000. Meanwhile, nonfarm payrolls for January were revised up to 160,000 from 126,000 and nonfarm private payrolls were revised up to 180,000 from 146,000.

While this report won't help the case for a rate cut, it should soothe some of the recent concerns about the labor market that resulted from the weak February report.