Jobs Report Was No Fairy Tale

The jobs report Friday was strong, but investors should watch distortions from weather and a burst of retail hiring

When the February jobs report came out, investors thought they caught a glimpse of Goldilocks. The risk is that the evidence for the not-too-hot, not-too-cold economy they are hoping for is thinner than they believe.

Last month was big for hiring. The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. added 313,000 jobs for the biggest gain in nearly two years. But the economy appears to have absorbed those jobs with little trouble. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1% as more people who had been out of the labor force sought...