In the topsy-turvy, bizarro land of Wall Street, sometimes a bit of good news about the
economy can be bad news for investors. The economy added 200,000 jobs in January,
higher than last year’s monthly average of about 170,000. The unemployment rate
remained at a 17-year of 4.1 percent; and perhaps most encouraging, annual hourly
earnings jumped by 2.9 percent, the fastest pace since the recession. (The figure does
not include special one-time, tax-related bonuses that have thus far helped about two
percent of workers.)