Jobs And Indicators

For Q1 2007, civilian employment gained an average of only
109K jobs a month, with all of it coming in March. Slow going
for the quarter. Measured yr/yr, employment is up 1.8% and
wages are up 4.0%. That would be fine, except that a bump in
inflation is cutting into the income growth. Fuel prices need
to settle down or else consumer spending in constant $ will be
undercut.

Leading indicators are sluggish. Breadth of commercial and
industrial new orders is still positive, but is at a three year
low and is trending down. Indicators suggest GDP growth of no
more than 2.5%.