Carla Javier

All this jobs data is really important, says RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas.

He says ADP's numbers reaffirm a low-hire, low-fire labor market and make him want to look closely at health care and private education in Friday's jobs report.

The Bank of America Institute says its February data also show jobs growing.

That's senior economist David Tinsley.

But he says there's also a growing gap, with higher-income households seeing wage growth of more than 4% year over year.

He'll be looking for any indications of that in Friday's BLS data.

Kathy Bostjancic at Nationwide is expecting modest job gains for February and will be watching for any revisions to January's solid number.

But... In terms of what consumers, businesses, and investors are focused on, it's probably going to be overshadowed by what's happening in Iran.

And, she says, what impact oil and gas prices, or even just uncertainty, could have as the conflict continues.

I'm Carla Javier for Marketplace.

Carlos Chapman at SMU says a lot of the high-profile announcements and DEI rollbacks are... Kind of lightning rod headline generating activity.

So instead of listening to what companies say, Atinuke Adediran at Fordham says watch what they do.

Some are indeed backing away from diversity efforts.

But in other cases... Companies are, you know, replacing words like equity with diversity.

belonging, inclusion, etc.

Companies are making these moves because they're afraid that the federal government will retaliate against them if they don't.

Mae McDonald at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School says that threat.

Some shareholders have pressed companies to abandon diversity initiatives, but others see value in them.

McDonald says even in this environment, pro-DEI shareholders can have conversations behind closed doors with board leaders.

Companies that are trying to navigate these waters have a lot of conflicting forces to take into consideration, says John Solorzano of Vinson & Elkins, who consults firms on DEI issues.