03.03.11 Review

Economic Reports

#1) Monster Employment Index

Monster Employment Index

Prev 122

Act 129

#2)Weekly Jobs Report (Click Here)

New Claims - Level	Prev 391 K	Revised 388 K	Cons 395 K	Range 388 K to 405 K	Act 368 K
4-week Moving Average - Level	Prev 402.0 K	Revised 401.25 K			Act 388.50 K

New Claims - Level

Prev 391 K

Revised 388 K

Cons 395 K

Range 388 K to 405 K

Act 368 K

4-week Moving Average - Level

Prev 402.0 K

Revised 401.25 K

Act 388.50 K

#3) Productivity and Costs

Nonfarm productivity - Q/Q change - SAAR	Prev 2.6 %	Est 2.6 %	Range 2.0 % to 3.0 %	Act 2.6 %
Unit labor costs - Q/Q change - SAAR	-0.6 %	-0.3 %	-1.0 % to -0.2 %	-0.6 %

Nonfarm productivity - Q/Q change - SAAR

Prev 2.6 %

Est 2.6 %

Range 2.0 % to 3.0 %

Act 2.6 %

Unit labor costs - Q/Q change - SAAR

-0.6 %

-0.3 %

-1.0 % to -0.2 %

-0.6 %

#4) ISM Non-Mfg Index

Composite Index - Level

Prev 59.4

Est 59.0

Range 57.8  to 65.1

Act 59.7

Composite Index - Level

Prev 59.4 

Est 59.0 

Range 57.8  to 65.1 

Act 59.7 

#5)Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (Click Here)

Weekly Change

-81 bcf

-85 bcf

Weekly Change

-81 bcf

-85 bcf

Summary from the EIA report- Summary
Working gas in storage was 1,745 Bcf as of Friday, February 25, 2011, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decline of 85 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 9 Bcf less than last year at this time and 15 Bcf below the 5-year average of 1,760 Bcf. In the East Region, stocks were 80 Bcf below the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 71 Bcf. Stocks in the Producing Region were 83 Bcf above the 5-year average of 613 Bcf after a net injection of 9 Bcf. Stocks in the West Region were 18 Bcf below the 5-year average after a net drawdown of 23 Bcf. At 1,745 Bcf, total working gas is within the 5-year historical range.

Market Review

Indices +2.07% Softs +1.63% Grains +1.26% Meats +0.96%

FX -0.07% Energies -0.10% Financials -0.62% Metals-1.24%

News that Libyan rebels had regained control of oil facilities and Venezuela had offered to mediate the Libyan conflict sent energies, financial contracts and precious metals lower.

Equities benefitted from lower energy prices and better than expected employment reports. However, it should be noted that in the 2 prior months, the government reported fewer new jobs than what the private forecasts had predicted.

Grains rallied on talk that the Chinese plan to lower import tariffs on certain products, strong export numbers in beans and news that too much rain was slowing the Brazilian soybean harvest

Indications that the ECB may begin to raise rates sooner than expected weighed on gold and interest-rate futures.