March's 303,000 rise was the fifth month in a row that US nonfarm payrolls have exceeded Econoday's consensus estimate and the fourth month in a row that exceeded the high end of Econoday's consensus range. The 3-month average of 276,000 is the highest since March last year!

Though the employment report isn't pulling forward the expected rate cut by the Federal Reserve, the data did include a slowing in wage growth to an annual 4.1 percent, still double the Fed's general inflation target but the least elevated since June 2021. This evidently was enough not to slow the stock market's climb, as the Dow rose 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq 1.2 percent. This despite a 9-basis-point jump in the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.40 percent and an 11-point surge in the 2-year to 4.75 percent.

Turning to company news, momentum stocks Nvidia rose 2.5 percent with Amazon up 2.8 percent and Meta up 3.2 percent. Shockwave Medical rose 2 percent after Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy the medical device maker for $12.5 billion. J&J was nearly unchanged.

Market Reflections track market reaction to the trading day's major events. Economic data, policymaker speeches, and company news are featured in this report as well as key indexes and financial instruments.

Understanding why markets respond as they do is fundamental for an investor. Market Reflections help explain how the day's events, news, and data impact the outlook for the economy and for market prices.