WASHINGTON, DC–The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly employment statistics for February this morning. Simply put, they were good. Great, even.

Some 235,000 workers were added to US payrolls in February and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.7%. Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting about 190,000 new jobs. One of the leading job-creating sectors for the month was the construction industry, which saw 58,000 new jobs enter the system.

Also, December's and January's numbers were upwardly revised.

Such reports are rarely uniformly good and there are some reasons why investors might treat the February numbers with tempered enthusiasm, Sandy Paul, NGKF's managing director of national market research, tells GlobeSt.com.

“The positive factors do outweigh the negative ones but when you did a little deeper there are some reasons to be cautious,” he says.

First, there is the obvious factor of the Federal Reserve, which will almost surely raise interest rates much sooner. Indeed, this report showed that average hourly earnings rose 2.8%, a number that could trigger a rise in inflation. An interest rate increase will slow investment sales eventually, Paul says. In the near-terms prices have already taken into account an interest rate increase but as these rate increases grow — perhaps more aggressively than anticipated — the market will feel the affect, he says.

Also the financial service sector experienced little job growth in February. Ditto the government. For the Washington DC area that, combined with the federal hiring freeze, means the area has some challenges ahead, Paul said.

WASHINGTON, DC–The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly employment statistics for February this morning. Simply put, they were good. Great, even.

Also, December's and January's numbers were upwardly revised.

“The positive factors do outweigh the negative ones but when you did a little deeper there are some reasons to be cautious,” he says.

Instant Insights /

A Great Jobs Report Always Comes With Warning Flags

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