The data were the latest of several recent reports, including ones on jobless claims and consumer confidence earlier this week, that told us that the economy is not out of the woods yet.

A reasonable interpretation is they're going to go again in May unless the ( economic) numbers make a compelling case against.

The market is likely to find enough underpinnings in the FOMC statement to lessen fears of Fed tightening in the next several months.

The next couple employment reports will attract an extraordinary degree of attention in the markets. They are widely viewed as holding the key of whether the Fed remains on a tightening path beyond January.

They are confirming in their own subtle way there are some more moves ahead, whether it is one, two or three rises.

For the past few months, core C.P.I. has been surprisingly well behaved. You would be very hard-pressed to find such a long stretch of benign numbers.