Top Takes From RealMoney

The RealMoney contributors are in the business of trading and investing all day on the basis of ongoing news flow. Below, we offer the top five ideas that RealMoney contributors posted today and how they played those ideas.

TheStreet.com brings you the news all day, and with RealMoney's "Columnist Conversation," you can see how the pros are playing it on a real-time basis. Here are the top five ideas played today. To see all that RealMoney offers, click here for a free trial.

1. Jobs Report: Was It Really That Bad?

By Jeff Bagley
2:10 p.m. EDT

Jim Cramer asks whether 40,000 to 60,000 jobs trumps everything good that has happened.

At the risk of rationalizing an economic data point, let me add that the job losses reported this morning included the layoff of 49,000 government workers that were temporarily hired to prepare for Census 2010. In addition, consider that the margin of error on the monthly employment report is about 100,000.

Furthermore, the household data showed little change in employment, albeit with a small uptick in the unemployment rate.

Out of all the economic data that is released, the jobs report probably has the most influence on market participants. I understand this and believe me I also understand that rationalizing it could end up being a very costly error.

I just believe that the report this morning, while bad, was not nearly as bad as today's market action would suggest.

No positions.