GOLDILOCKS NUMBERS (via Bryan Francoeur):

Just Good Enough (Igor Greenwald, May 5, 2006, SmartMoney)

A MODEST GAIN in April payrolls and a steady jobless rate pumped up demand for shares early Friday as traders bet on a continuation of the profit boom.

The government counted 138,000 net new jobs for the last month, well short of Wall Street's expectations for 200,000. The unemployment rate held at 4.7%. Average hourly earnings jumped 0.5% and 3.8% year-over-year, the biggest increase since 2001.

But the payroll shortfall had traders betting that the Federal Reserve would follow through on its chairman's suggestion of a summer pause to rate hikes after one more serving of the anti-inflationary medicine next week.