Wekly Info: 03/08/2013

At dawn today came glorious news: in February the nation added 236,000 jobs, and the prior two months were revised up another 61,000, in sum double the forecast. When you're hit by one of these surprises, you stare at the market effect before studying the report: stock market futures rocketed before the open, and bonds tanked. But by midday today markets no longer believed the job data: the Dow up only 23, the 10-year T-note damaged, but trading 2.06%, above the 2013 top by only 0.03%, mortgages holding in the high threes. The ISM reports in the mid-50s showed some modest health in February. Next week we'll hear from small business, at all accounts still stalled. Housing is still the darling of all optimists... change there? MGIC every 90 days releases a regional summary for its underwriters; of 73 markets covered, suddenly 25 are rated as "improving," the best since 2005. But, improving from what? 32 metro areas are rated "stable," 23 are "soft," and the last 18 are "weak." Not one, single market rates "strong." MGIC's adjectives are based on price appreciation. Housing is better, and will get better yet, but is not yet pulling the economy forward.