Consumers Fuel S&P

Many economists felt their caution was vindicated when the ADP National Employment Report came out Wednesday to reveal 97,000 new jobs added in May. The conventional wisdom is to add 25,000 jobs to the ADP report to account for new government jobs that ADP doesn't include. But some were kicking themselves by Thursday morning when the Chicago PMI report showed a jump to 57.3 on regional employment from 50 in April.

Debate centers around residential construction jobs, which have fallen amid the housing market slump, but not nearly as much as economists had expected. Deutsche Bank's chief U.S. economist Joe Lavorgna predicts a 70,000 payrolls report because he believes this is the month the construction-job losses hit the tally, as the backlogged housing orders are completed.

That day of reckoning may never happen, though, as Thursday's construction spending report revealed a higher-than-expected 0.1% gain in April. As residential housing slumps, government and commercial construction activity may pick up the slack and the related jobs.

Rest up for more clues Friday morning into the job market, the state of manufacturing, income and spending data, inflation, and consumer sentiment. If that sounds stressful, maybe a little retail therapy would help.