The March job report is expected to bring grim tidings about the health of the US economy.

The consensus on Wall Street is for nonfarm payrolls in March to fall by roughly 60,000 jobs. This will raise the unemployment rate from 4.8% to 5%.

Already, the private sector has shed jobs for four consecutive months, led by losses in manufacturing and construction.

Despite expected bad news on the jobs front, US stock futures are pointing higher this morning following a surge in European stocks rose, which are set for the biggest weekly gain in a year, according to Bloomberg.

“What we’re seeing is a highly volatile stock market,” says Money Morning’s Jennifer Yousfi.

“One of the best protections for an investment portfolio during times of volatility is diversification. And while one way to diversify a portfolio is to buy several different stocks in various industries, it’s possible to get diversification with just one pick – if you make it a smart one.”

“If you want to bet on something, bet on deleveraging,” says Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning.

“This is where inflation and deflation make common cause. They both deleverage the world…reducing the value of debt – either by defaults or by lowering the real value of the debt itself. That is the real story in the financial markets…and in the housing market: leverage is being marked down. A residential mortgage worth $200,000 two years ago may be worth only $150,000 now, for example. Bear Stearns – worth billions a few months ago – is now worth peanuts.”