I have rarely seen the economist correctly forecast the monthly payrolls figure, but today they did. The February nonfarm payrolls report showed the economy lost 651,000 jobs (vs. consensus of -650k). The manufacturing sector shed 168,000 jobs, which was less than the 200,000 predicted. The market breathed a sigh of relief that the numbers weren’t worse, and that allowed stocks to rally. But after about an hour, sellers reemerged and so far have erased those early gains.
The outcome looks bad from a policy perspective, although legally it must said that the argument for striking down Prop 8 in the abscence of a federally enforceable right are pretty weak. At least it appears as if the marriages that took place under the more just staus quo ante won’t be nullified.
