Friday’s Non-Farm Payrolls report should continue the persistent and debilitating losses that are the hallmark of a recession. We are destined to see the thirteenth month of mounting job losses that is prone to sever the US’ ability to pull out of the economic crisis and restore some level confidence and activity. However, this is not to say that there are no reasons to be modestly optimistic about the labor market report. In fact, currencies and equities are already pricing in the possibility of another 500k decline in non-farm payrolls. The bar has been set very low and in order to disappoint the markets, payrolls may need to fall by 600k.