Jobs gloom settles in

Small-cap stocks drifted lower, pulled down by concerns over sizable upward revisions in recent employment reports, which countered any upside glee when the headline non-farm figure was below “worst-case” scenarios. The market is now in a position today of working out whether this jobs report is already priced into the market, or reflects a little darker picture than current stock market valuations. At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 12.03, or 2.46% at 489.68.

The Labor Department report showed that 524,000 non-farm payroll jobs were lost in December, which was in line with the average analyst forecast for a decline of 525,000 jobs. However, “whisper” numbers were upward of 650,000, so the key headline figure on the jobs release was basically better than feared. That said, some of the other details were not pretty. For instance, the unemployment rate climbed to 7.2%, which marked the highest level in 16 years, and which was above the 7.0% consensus projection. It was also the largest year-over-year increase in the unemployment rate since the 1982 recession. What’s more, the Labor Department dramatically revised job loss figures for October and November, adding another ...

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