Boom!  The February jobs report was a grand slam, and as I said in the morning commentary before its release, great news is great news.  Not only were 313,000 jobs created last month, but there were strong revisions higher.

• December 175,000 + 15,000
• January 239,000 +39,000

The biggest part of the report is the 806,000 folks that came back into the job market, the highest level since 1983.  That is the ultimate sign of confidence in the economy.

Goods Producing Jobs

The second-best part of the report is good producing jobs, or as I like to call them “dirty fingernail” jobs. These are jobs that represent the heartland.  These are great-paying jobs that fuel economic growth, household formation and pride.

Construction +61,000

• 6,000 building
• 38,000 specialty
• 185,000 last four months

Manufacturing +31,000

• 8,000 transportation
• 6,000 fabricating metals
• 6,000 machinery
• 4,000 primary metals
• 224,000 in past 12-months

Overall, most sectors saw solid to strong job growth while wages increased modestly, which quailed Wall Street fears.

The markets are rocking today, with all the major indices are up about 1.3%.  Advancers significantly outpacing decliners 2063/812 on the NYSE and 1907/798 on the Nasdaq.   Energy, Financials and Technology are leaders today.  

On the energy front, oil is up on the President Trump-Kim Jong Un meeting news.  Kim has committed not to do any additional nuclear or missile testing.  WTI is up 2.7% today to $61.74 and Brent is up 2.4% to $65.14. 

In the financial sector, the breaking news (which is yet to be confirmed) is Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS), is preparing to retire, and this could happen as soon as year-end.  This has sent stock higher, up 1.28%.    The financial ETF, XLF, is up 1.94% today to $29.55.