While U.S. economic data broadly deteriorated through Q1, the lone bright spot was the labor market. Through the first three months of the year, U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls increased by a whopping 863,000 jobs, while other measures of economic activity including PMI surveys, retail sales, durable goods orders and inflation readings have all turned lower.
The unemployment rate in February fell to 5.5% and its lowest since May 2008. The headline jump of 295,000 for payrolls was the strongest gain since December and accompanied by a negative revision to the January report.
