Various economic reports were released today. They all indicated a fairly slow recovery.

The first was the ADP employment report. It roughly correlates with the monthly employment situation report, except that it excludes government jobs. It came in “meh” with only -20,000 jobs. There was a brief weather disclaimer:

Two large blizzards smothered parts of the east coast during the reference period for the BLS establishment survey. The adverse weather had only a very small effect on today’s ADP Report due to the methodology used to construct it. However, the adverse weather is widely expected to depress the BLS estimate of the monthly change in employment for February, but boost it for March. Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to expect the BLS estimate for February (due out this Friday) to be less than today’s ADP Report even though the BLS estimate will include the hiring of temporary Census workers not captured in the ADP Report.

The second report was the ISM Non-Manufacturing Report On Business. The index hit its highest since the recession at 53%. Unfortunately, the employment indicator came in at 48.6%, indicating further job losses. I don’t consider this report to be as indicative of industry strength as the manufacturing report.

The third report, which is widely followed, was the Fed Beige Book. The summary wasn’t great (“modest” is quite accurate):

Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts indicated that economic conditions continued to expand since the last report, although severe snowstorms in early February held back activity in several Districts. Nine Districts reported that economic activity improved, but in most cases the increases were modest. Overall conditions were described as mixed in the Atlanta and St. Louis Districts, though St. Louis noted further signs of improvement in some areas. Richmond reported that economic activity slackened or remained soft across most sectors, due importantly to especially severe February weather in that region.

Unfortunately, these reports are all consistent with expectations of job losses in Friday’s employment situation report. On the plus side, there’s been a piecemeal extension to unemployment benefits.