The briefing.com survey is precisely what the article cotton posted was referring to as its benchmark ... which I posted and will post again. The number came in far below the briefing.com cited consensus of 165,000.
Yes, the markets are headed higher. This is a "good" number if your primary concerns are (1) interest rates remaining favorable for corporate borrowing, (2) employment remaining low so corporate profits can be maximized (via lower labor expenses), and (3) interest rates remaining low enough to drive money out of alternative asset classes and into equities, thereby driving the equities markets higher.
If you give a half a darn about the average American, though, or the long-term health of the economy, the number stinks.
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