Notes today:

• US: Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 379,000 in February, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 6.2%. The number of unemployed persons, at 10.0 million, also changed little.
• Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that despite the strong job gains last month, Congress still needs to “go big” by passing President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief.

• Musk’s electric carmaker is down more than 30% since its January high, hurting anything associated with it -- most notably Cathie Wood’s flagship exchange-traded fund, the Ark Innovation ETF (ticker ARKK). 

  

• Britain’s financial regulators on Friday called a formal halt to nearly all Libor rates from the end of this year, as expected, piling pressure on markets to speed the switch in interest rates used in $260 trillion of contracts around the world. 

• Singapore’s economy has been ranked the freest in the world this year in The Heritage Foundation’s 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, the second year in a row it topped the list. 

• China is aiming for an economic growth rate above 6% in 2021.

• The U.S. trade deficit widened in January as American consumers stepped up purchases of imported products. The deficit in trade of goods and services expanded by 1.9% to $68.2 billion in January - this compares to a  $66.97 billion gap in December.