U..S. non-farm payrolls data-arguably the most closely watched indicator in the world's largest economy-are revised so often and by so much that they can't be trusted, some strategists argued yesterday. Their comments come after Friday's report for October showed huge upward revisions for job creation in August and September. And last month, the Bureau of Labour Statistics said 810,000 more jobs were created between March, 2005, and March, 2006, than originally thought-the biggest revision ever made to the data. How can you trust a non-farm payroll report that shows such massive revisions-we have never seen this before to such an extent," David Rosenberg, North American economist at Merrill Lynch & Co., railed in a note to clients. The U.S. report-which measures the creation of non-agricultural jobs-is usually released on the first Friday of the month and provides the earliest economic snapshot of the previous month. It tends to be one of the top market-moving indicators, influencing stocks, bonds and currency markets in the U.S. and beyond. "We find it utterly comical and at times almost contemptible that some in our business still wish to trade pending this report," [investment guru] Dennis Gartman wrote in his newsletter yesterday. "Such is nonsense, for the report itself is nonsense."

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