Continuing Jobless Claims plunged to 1.962mm last week - the lowest since April 2000
(right before the Nasdaq started to collapse and the US fell into recession).
While ISM surveys show employment tumbling (and ADP was weak)...
initial jobless claims for the last week also collapsed back near its lowest levels since 1973.
"Full employment?"
The US Trade Balance shrank to $43.7 billion in March, from an upward revised $43.8 billion in February, marking the month's deficit the smallest since October and less than the conesnus estimate of $44.5 billion. Imports declined by $1.7 billion, or 0.7%, to $234.7 billion, while exports dipped fractionally more, or 0.9%, even as the recently weaker dollar did little to boost US exports. Notably, the US trade deficit with China was $31.4 billion, followed by the European Union at $10 billion. The trade deficit excluding petroleum stood at $35.82b in March.
US productvity has dropped for 4 of the last 6 quarters, plunging 0.6% in Q1 (dramatically worse than the 0.1% decline expected).
With unit labor costs up 3%, this is the biggest drop in productvity in 15 months and continues the stagnant trend within American workers.
While it is unclear what the specific catalyst for this morning's outburst is (CNN censorship, flip-flopping over spending bill, coverage of Susan Rice?), President Trump has taken to Twitter to express his ongoing dissatisfaction with the mainstream media's coverage of his presidency...
The Fake News media is officially out of control. They will do or say anything in order to get attention - never been a time like this!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 4, 2017
Yesterday in an interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook said the tech giant would be devoting $1 billion to promote "advanced manufacturing" jobs in the United States.
"We're announcing it today. So you're the first person I'm telling," Cook told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer on Wednesday. "Well, not the first person because we've talked to a company that we're going to invest in already," he said, adding that Apple will announce the first investment later in May. -CNBC