The January jobs report seemed like good news - but of course that's not the case...
The U.S. Labor Department said 257,000 jobs were added to the economy. That easily beat the 230,000 number analysts had expected.
And yet unemployment ticked up to 5.7% from 5.6%.
Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald sees the conflicting data in the jobs report as more proof the recovery is not the success President Barack Obama claims.
"The political pabulum is such that as far as [the Obama administration] is concerned, the recovery's great. But I don't see it that way. There are lots of middle-class Americans who still don't have jobs, who still don't have rising wages, and whose reality does not match what the White House or the Fed thinks is happening," Fitz-Gerald said on the FOX Business program "Cavuto" on Friday evening.
In the video below, Fitz-Gerald discusses in detail what the funny numbers from the January jobs report mean for the U.S. economy and the markets.
And About Those Earnings Reports: As we hit the middle of the Q1 earnings cycle, Fitz-Gerald thinks investors should know the whole thing is like going to the circus. There's a lot of bright lights and loud noises that mean little in the grand scheme of things - much like the monthly jobs reports. That doesn't mean earnings don't matter, but investors need to know where to focus their attention...