Friday's market action is a classic example of when good news is really bad news for stocks. The January Non-farm payrolls report showed a gain of more than 500,000 new jobs despite ongoing layoffs in the tech sector. This is on top of upward revisions to the already strong figures in the previous 2 months and drove another big wage increase. Wages jumped $0.21 from last month's reported figure for a more than 4.0% YOY gain. This is down from the peak but well within the range set over the last 2 years. With the NFP as strong as it is, it doesn't look like wage inflation is going anywhere but sideways anytime soon.

The market will get a reprieve from economic data this week, but the earnings onslaught continues. Another 100+ S&P 500 earnings reports are expected, and they are sure to confirm what we already know; the Q4 earnings season is worse than expected, and the outlook for 2023 is falling fast. At the current pace, the consensus estimate for 2023 S&P 500 earnings growth will hit negative territory by the end of this reporting season, which is not a catalyst for higher prices.