Analysts may have talked a good game, but in their hearts they knew the Friday jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics would be bad news. They were not surprised.  Wall Street dealt with the staggering numbers with relative ease as the dollar slumped and the euro moved higher in early morning trading.

Despite the non-farm payroll loss of 131,000, bulls continued to assert themselves in volatile marketplaces.  Overall, corporate earnings are strong and while companies are talking additional trimming rather then new jobs, there is a feel of a very mild recovery underfoot. 

According to the ADP National Employment Report, 42,000 private sector jobs were added in July as the Mortgage Bankers Association said financing applications for the purchase of residential real estate rose.  Bankers attributed much of the rise to favorable mortgage rates  The application rate increased by 1.3 percent in year-over-year comparisons.

The ADP report, which is often viewed as a precursor for the government’s employment report due on Friday, showed a nice jump in private sector hiring and seems to support a stabilization of the economy.  Downsizing activity showed continued improvement in July but planned layoffs rose 6 percent to 41,676 according to consultant Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Every Thursday, CNBC stands on ceremony to reveal the Department of Labor’s exciting weekly unemployment report.  If you have witnessed the spectacle once, say a year ago, and you listened to today’s ceremony, you would not see, hear or feel much difference.  After all, baloney is baloney. 

The Labor Department, the Obama Administration, the Congress and the media go through the motions, but none of these groups possess the strength of character, the moral integrity or the conviction to do the right thing and address unemployment from top to bottom until it is fixed.   

Equity markets in the U.S. appeared ready to post solid gains for the fourth straight day.  Buoyed by stellar quarterly earnings from Dupont and other major U.S. companies, the DOW appeared ready to post another triple digit gain.  Historically, the DOW has never had four straight days of triple digit gains.

Dupont’s strong sales figures from every division surprised analysts.  The company immediately raised annual projections and raised expectations for several key divisions.  Overall, U.S. business has posted strong quarterly reports, but the Consumer Confidence report, issued Tuesday morning, turned down from June’s adjusted 54 percent to slightly over 50 percent in July.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke fought off numerous queries from a serious, agenda-filled Senate Banking Committee and sent U.S. equity markets into a steep fall on Wednesday.  Media coverage quickly picked up on Bernanke’s “unusually uncertain” capsulization of the economy and used this phrase to characterize the Fed’s position regarding the strength and direction of the U.S. economy.

Bernanke may have appeared uncertain about the economy’s direction, but he was steadfast in the Fed’s commitment to use all weapons at its disposal to prevent a double dip.  Pressed by Senate members to detail the weapons in the Fed’s arsenal, Bernanke played his cards very close to the vest. 

At the June G-20 summit in Toronto, it was decided that countries would pursue necessary budget cuts to reduce sovereign debt.  The U.S. insisted that the member nations continue to pursue growth as part of a successful formula to end the recession.  The growth-trim controversy was the key discussion at the Toronto summit.

While the participants agreed to the concept, they returned home to unleash austerity cuts with little concern for growth.  The avoidance of a strategy to grow alongside the debt reduction has spread beyond the euro zone as Britain, Brazil and India have joined the parade.

Seven weeks ago, the euro was staggering.  After creating a $100 billion safety fund, the euro zone has implemented a series of austerity cuts while countries that seemed pitted against each other have pulled together in a common cause to save their troubled currency. 

The originally divisive financial plan, which includes stress testing of the zone’s 100 largest banks, has buoyed the euro.  In overnight trading, the euro reached a two-month high at $1.2970 and seems certain to cross the $1.30 threshold soon. 

Riding a wave of seasonal improvement at manufacturing facilities, the weekly U.S. Unemployment settled at it lowest level in two years.  The fall in unemployment claims was aided by GM’s determination to continue working through the summer months and a trend among states to try to avoid seasonal layoffs.  New York State was not one of those states.

The New York Federal Reserve published its “Empire State” summary.  The report indicated that a state composite of business factors dropped a whopping 15 points in June to 5.08.

Following the G-20 Summit in Toronto, euro zone members continued to execute their commitment to concentrate on debt reduction as well as improving financial transparency.  While investors have awaited release of the criteria to be used in the much-publicized stress tests, the euro has shown a steady increase against the dollar.

Since falling below $1.19 for the first time in four years, the euro has made a steady push toward recovery.  On Tuesday, the currency crossed the $1.2663 threshold and appeared steady despite news that Germany, the zone’s largest manufacturer, reported an unexpected slowdown in factory orders. 

Spain beat the clock Thursday morning by successfully selling 3.5 billion euros in 5-year bonds just ahead of Moody’s downgrade of the credit rating in five of the country’s regions.  Surprisingly, the average yield at tender rose just 12 basis points from Spain’s successful May auction. 

On Wednesday, Moody’s announced an upcoming review of Spain’s credit rating.  The success of the bond auction indicates that investors had already factored in the ratings slide. Standard & Poor’s and Fitch had already downgraded Spain’s rating earlier this quarter, but on Wednesday Moody’s said the rating could fall by as much as two levels.