According to the ADP Employer Services Report, the private sector added 201,000 new jobs in March, basically in-line with 203,000 new jobs that analysts had been expecting to see.

February's figures were revised downwards to 208,000 from a previously estimated 216,000 new jobs.

March's employment gains bring the four-month average of new jobs to 211,000, more than enough to keep the labor track on path. Analysts estimate that the economy needs to add 125,000 new jobs each month in order to keep up with population growth, so any jobs over that figure result in a lower unemployment figures.

The Japanese devastation is almost incomprehensible. First there was the earthquake, followed by the tsunami, followed by radiation. It seems the disaster has no end. The people are suffering beyond imagination. It will be a long time for the country to heal. In the north, it will take decades.

Investors are trying to understand what the economic aftershocks will be. Which industries will be hurt and which ones will benefit? Because the crises change from day to day, it's extremely difficult to ascertain. But there are a few themes that seem to be emerging. Some of these will be short lived, such as the closing of the Japanese auto manufacturers. While they will lose days of production, the long-term effect will be minor, unless supplies are interrupted, causing further delays.

December is not shaping up to have been the retail windfall that many experts predicted, which may be setting up a rather scary situation. Don't worry folks, the experts are going to blame the poor December revenue on different factors, including strong November sales taking away from December and post-Christmas sales suffering from the Northeast blizzard.

First things first, not all retailers have reported their results -- a majority of heavy hitters will report today. Nevertheless, the results are being described as "slow and steady" rather than the expected blowout holiday shopping season. For example, Costco (COST) reported sales that increased 6%. This is positive data, unfortunately expectations called for an increase of 6.2%. Target (TGT) saw sales increase 0.9%, well short of the expected 4%. Of course sales were better at Macy's (M), right? I mean they are adding jobs and all. Wrong, sales did increase (3.9%) but missed expectations (4.5%).

Just as we are hearing that retailers had a great December, we get news from the Conference Board that U.S. consumer confidence dropped to 52.5 in December. Expectations had been for an increase to 56.9, making for quite a disparity between expectation and reality.

The director of the Conference Board's consumer research center, Lynn Franco, noted that "Consumers' assessment of the current state of the economy and labor market remains tepid, and their outlook remains cautious." Franco added that signs suggest continuing growth for the economy, "but that the pace of growth will remain moderate."

In projecting U.S. GDP growth at about a 2% rate for the remainder of this year and in 2011, I have noted that the two propellants of growth so far in this economic recovery -- the inventory revival and fiscal stimuli -- are largely exhausted.

But are there other sectors of the economy that might serve as the backbone of any meaningful economic recovery? I don't see any, especially with U.S. consumers continuing their saving spree, repaying debts and remaining hesitant to spend like they did during the boom times of earlier years.

It's often said that the best time to buy stocks is when everyone else is selling -- or sitting on the sidelines. That's when you get the best deals. So does that make stocks a good investment for you today?

No question, Americans are still wary of the stock market. The S&P 500 has remained within a narrow range for more than a year. Not surprising given the U.S. high unemployment rate and the fall in values of homes. On top of that, the world is jittery over the debt crisis in Europe, the possibility of inflation in China (even though China so far has not raised interest rates), and skirmishes taking place between North and South Korea. And then there are well-known economists such as Gary Shilling and David Rosenberg who are sounding alarm bells that now is not the time to invest in stocks.

I am projecting U.S. GDP growth at about a 2% rate for the remainder of this year and in 2011. The two propellants of growth so far in this economic recovery -- the inventory revival and fiscal stimuli -- are largely exhausted.

The ending of inventory liquidation and their rebuilding in the past five quarters, starting with the third quarter of 2009, accounted for 58.5% of the overall gain of 3.6% in real GDP. Conversely, real final sales (real GDP ex inventories) grew just 1.4% in the last five quarters and were responsible for less than half the rise in real GDP, 48.2%.

Despite talk all year long that the housing market was stabilizing and that it had reached bottom, home values in the U.S. have fallen $1.7 trillion in 2010, real estate website Zillow announced Thursday. Zillow's 2010 estimate is 63% higher than the $1 trillion drop it estimated in 2009, CNNMoney reported.

The first time home-buyer credit ended up to be just a blip in the overall price declines, demonstrating that market forces are more powerful than temporary fixes.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has an indicator that tracks the number of people who simply quit their jobs. CNBC.com reported that the indicator, which they dubbed "Take This Job and Shove It," climbed in October with 2 million people quitting their jobs, up from 1.7 million in the same month a year ago. The last time this pattern occurred was in 2003 when the economy started a long upward trend.

The "Shove It" indicator tends to turn up when people are confident enough that they will find another job if they quit their present one.

The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index is a little known index that tracks diesel fuel consumption to use as a proxy for economic activity.

On Tuesday, the index will show a small 0.4% gain following three months of decline, The Wall Street Journal reports. The rolling average has declined for three of the past four months, breaking 13 straight month of gains.

According to the Labor Department, U.S. producer prices increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% during October thanks mainly to an increase in energy prices.

Energy prices increased 3.7% during the month, the largest monthly increase since January. This increase was driven (so to speak) by a 9.8% increase in gasoline prices. Food prices dropped 0.1% during the month, with plunge led by a drop of 8.1% in the government's index for fresh and dry vegetables.

U.S. stock futures are lower this morning after Cisco Systems (CSCO) issued a weak revenue forecast last night, and China reported 4.4% surge in its consumer-price index in October. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 14 points at 11,288.00, while S&P 500 futures moved down 2.80 points to 1,211.30. Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 12.75 points to 2,161.75.

However, U.S. markets did gain yesterday, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 0.1%, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gaining 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite Index advancing 0.6%.

You can't blame investors for being a little perplexed regarding the U.S. stock market right now.

The market's bulls argue the worst financial and economic news is behind us, and that the Dow's recent rise from about the 9,500 level in July to above 11,000 early this autumn is a signal by institutional investors that better days are ahead.

For the 2010 fiscal year ending September 30, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the deficit is just below $1.3 trillion, The Wall Street Journal reported. In 2009, the deficit was $1.4 trillion. The deficit in fiscal 2010 is 8.9% of GDP, well above the normal number of 3%.

With staggering deficits in 2009 and 2010, lawmakers will face a difficult task: how to rein in spending without derailing our fragile economy. Both parties must work together to find ways to keep spending in check.

Institutional investors are sometimes chastised for placing too much emphasis on a given economic statistic.

And with good reason: one positive or negative data point doesn't make a trend, and equally significant -- the very data point investors claim 'signals' the start of new bullish (or bearish) trend, frequently is revised, sometimes substantially -- making the previous bullish or bearish conclusion look premature, if not irrational.

That said, there are those 'telling stats' that offer a binocular view -- what may be ahead for the U.S. economy down the road. And one is: durable goods orders excluding transportation goods [PDF download].