does the COUNT command count missing values ?

[ftr]

I ask this question as , to my surprise, here the COUNT command does 
count missing values.

missing values v125 to v130 (-9).
count missval = v125 to v130 (-9).
results in 0 cases for missval.

So I reset the missing to a valid code.
Recode v125 to v130 (-9=9).
count missval = v125 to v130 (9).
results in about 66,000 cases without any missings (i.e. values of 9) 
and in 18,000 with at least one missing.

This looks bizarre.

Any ideas for these varying results ?
- ftr