Stocks were all over the map last week, as a terrible jobs report clashed with a new effort by the Federal Reserve to provide liquidity to banks. The moves provided ammunition for both bulls and bears.

The market got off to a poor start last Friday as a result of news that companies had slashed payrolls way, way more than most economists had expected. Jobs are the absolute foundation of the economy, and make everything else happen. When payrolls are rising and wages are higher, consumers buy stuff and corporate earnings swell. When payrolls are falling and wages are stagnant or falling, consumers stop buying stuff and companies suffer. It's really that simple.

That is why the jobs report is considered the king of economic reports and is so heavily scrutinized by federal officials, economists and investors. So what do we see in this one?
Well, I looked it up and down and had a really hard time finding anything positive. It looks very similar to reports that were put out near the start of prior recessions.

The loss in February of 63,000 jobs followed the loss of 22,000 jobs in January. Those increments sound small in an economy with tens of millions of jobs, but it's the change in direction that is important. It's also important to observe that as part of today's report, December's gain was revised downward by 41,000.

Capital goods jobs were the hardest hit, which is a shame because that's part of the real meat of the economy. Construction companies shed 39,000 jobs and manufacturing concerns shed 52,000 jobs. Retailers dumped 34,000 jobs, finance companies dumped 12,000 jobs and professional services companies (e.g. accountants, lawyers and consultants) dumped 20,000 jobs. The job losses were very uniform throughout those sectors, so it wasn't just a few companies with problems. It's endemic.