The "end of the end of QE talk." First ISM, then ISM services, then ADP, then initial jobless claims, and now nonfarm payrolls...but man! A 95,000 increase in private payrolls? Most of the people I talked to were expecting north of 200,000 ... how do you get a miss that big?

This is exactly what some Federal Reserve officials feared: that the economy would start getting a head of steam, then just fade.

Is this just the economy taking a breather, or the start of a protracted downturn?

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Friday:

Hewlett-Packard - Chairman Ray Lane resigned, although he will remain as a director. Two other directors have departed, and director Ralph Whitworth will take over as interim chairman. Lane has been under fire for his role in the acquisition of British software company Autonomy, after HP took a multibillion-dollar writedown because of accounting issues.

F5 Networks - F5 has slashed its fiscal second-quarter outlook, with its North American business performing below expectations. The technology provider now sees profit of $1.06 to $1.07 per share, compared to current estimates of $1.23 a share.

Boeing - Boeing may do a certification flight for its grounded 787 jet today, according to reports. The flight would be a key step on getting a revamped battery system approved and returning the 787 to service.

Treasury yields fell near the lows of the year as bond traders bet the Friday jobs report will be worse than economists expect.

The 10-year was yielding 1.76 percent late in the day Thursday, in a move exaggerated by short-covering. Traders see support in that zone and also at 1.74, the 200-day moving average. Another big support area is 1.72 percent, the low from Dec. 31. The 10-year bond was yielding 1.81 Wednesday, and it was last at 1.76 percent in the beginning of January.

One trader said the market is void of supply with strong buying by the Fed this week. But the Bank of Japan's announcement that it plans its own huge asset purchase program is also fueling some buying.

Central bankers in Japan, Britain, and the euro zone were facing high investor expectations when they had their meetings this week — and it appears they have delivered.

The Bank of Japan is embarking on a monetary easing campaign more aggressive than anything it has attempted in years, while the European Central Bank has reopened the door to further easing later in the year. Even the relative lack of action by the Bank of England is giving the market fodder for trades.

Currency experts reading the tea leaves from the central bank news are focusing on different elements, but for most of them, one theme is emerging loud and clear: with the outlook for the U.S. economy improving while weakness remains in other G4 countries, central bankers in Britain, Japan, and the euro zone are if anything committed to more aggressive easing, which means the dollar is poised to dominate in the near term.

"You're into a major currency war now. Japan has just laid down the gauntlet," said Paul Richards, head of global FX at UBS. At the same time, while the U.S. has a way to go to achieve full economic recovery, "there are very good signs you're seeing strength coming into the economy."

The U.S. is expected to have added fewer jobs in March than in February, and there are plenty of excuses, including government belt-tightening, an early Easter, and unusually cold weather.

The consensus estimate is for 200,000 nonfarm payrolls, according to Reuters, but the whisper number is about 50,000 lower, and some economists Thursday were still lowering their forecasts due to weaker jobs-related data in the days ahead of Friday's release. The 8:30 a.m. employment report is widely expected to show the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 7 .7 percent.

Stocks finished Thursday higher, boosted by a big asset buying program announced by the Bank of Japan. But buyers rushed into Treasurys, pushing yields near the lows of the year, as traders bet the payrolls number would fall short of expectations.

Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Thursday:

Hewlett-Packard - The tech giant announced that Ray Lane will step down from his post as the company's chairman. Lane has come under fire from shareholders for his role in the acquisition of British software company Autonomy. Director Ralph Whitworth will become the company's interim chairman. Shares edged lower in extended-hours trading.

(Read More: Stocks End Higher, but Techs Weigh; BBY Soars)

F5 Networks - The network appliances company slashed its second-quarter outlook, sending shares sharply lower in extended-hours trading.

Advance Auto Parts - The automotive replacement parts retailer named George Sherman as its new president. Most recently, Sherman served as the senior vice president at Best Buy Services.

Mexico, overshadowed by Brazil for years, has secured its place as the new favorite among investors looking to put cash into Latin America.

"A lot of funds are looking into Latin America as sort of a portfolio of opportunities. Brazil became a lot less attractive in the last year and a half," said in an interview Clinton Carter, director of research at Frontier Strategy Group. "Mexico has definitely come up as a priority."

In the past 12 months, iShares MSCI Mexico Capped exchange-traded fund rose more than 17 percent, when a fund trailing Brazil—iShares MSCI Brazil Capped Index Fund—lost over 15 percent.

"The mood in Mexico is clearly constructive. A lot of faith is being put in the ongoing reform process under President Pena Nieto, including deregulation of key industries," wrote Jens Nordvig, global head of currency strategy at Nomura Securities in a recent note.

Investors have been encouraged by signs that the new Mexican president will continue to push for economic change. Its congress has already approved labor and education reforms and a long-awaited telecommunication bill came through in March to bring competition into a highly concentrated industry.

Other key reforms—fiscal, financial and energy—are expected to come through this year as well, Nordvig says.

Take a look at some of Thursday's midday movers:

Google broke below its 50-day moving average as competition continues to heat up in the mobile search market.

Facebook shares were up slightly ahead of its media event to unveil the company's "New Home on Android."

The MSCI REIT Index hit its highest level since Nov. 2007. Apartment Investment and Management, Tanger Factory Outlet Centers and Ventas all traded at new 52-week highs.

Haruhiko Kuroda to Ben Bernanke: My bazooka is bigger than your bazooka.

Expectations were so high for the Bank of Japan (BOJ) meeting that new chief Haruhiko Kuroda would have to emerge in a Samurai suit to impress anyone.

He not only came out with a Samurai suit on, he came out swinging a sword—a big sword.

To achieve an inflation target of 2 percent within two years, the BOJ is doubling its purchase of Japanese bonds to roughly 7 trillion (about $79 billion) per month. That is well beyond the roughly 4 trillion to 5 trillion yen many analysts were expecting.

Remember, the Federal Reserve is buying $85 billion a month. But Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) is one-third our size, so this bond-buying program is essentially three times the size of ours. More importantly, this will double Japan's monetary base in two years, to 270 trillion yen. That is about 50 percent of the GDP of the entire country.

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Thursday:

Compuware - The software company said it would earn between $0.05 and $0.06 per share for the current quarter and $0.26 to $0.28 per share for the year. Both numbers are well below Street expectations, with Compuware saying that many deals that it had expected to close during the quarter have been delayed by clients who hadn't yet finalized their IT budgets.

Carnival - The cruise line operator is suffering from more mishaps, with the Carnival Triumph breaking loose from its moorings in Alabama because of high winds, with some reports saying that the ship sustained visible damage. The Triumph is the same ship that had to be towed to Alabama last month after an engine room fire caused the ship to lose power.

Microsoft - Bank of America/Merrill Lynch has downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," saying the Windows product cycle and stock buyback programs haven't given Microsoft the expected boost.