Early news that nonfarm jobs climbed by 105,000 last month and the failure of the jobless rate to rise to 4.1% only prompted a brief selloff Friday morning. The headline report masked signs of growing weakness in the labor markets including a decline in hours worked and overtime pay, strategists that is likely to force the Fed to play the more aggressive 50-bp rate card at month's end. "Some people use a decline in the hours worked as a proxy for real GDP," said Rupkey. Accordingly, two large investment banks both are calling for negative GDP in the first quarter, sources said. A contraction in growth for two consecutive quarters defines a recession.