Labor

In addition to noticing the diminishing impact of the weather (there were 26 instances of "weather" in the January beige book, down to 17 in March), one thing that caught our eyes about the Fed's March Beige Book was three odd mentions of the "stock market"(compared to zero in January) which was blamed for everything from concerning business responses, to slowing new leasing activity, to lack of activity, to wit:

After surprisingly jumping in December, ADP's employment report fell back to a more normal 200k ish level in January and now in Feb it rises once again to 214k (from 193k in Jan - revised down from 205k - and better than expectations of 190k). Manufacturing jobs, according to ADP remain relatively flat for the last year (down 9k in Feb - the second largest drop in 5 years), despite a collapse in ISM Manufacturing's Employmet index.

The House OF Lords have rebuffed Tory plan to cut Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) for second time. In January peers voted to remove the cuts to ESA from the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, but MPs in the Commons reinstated the measure. On Monday, the Lords defeated the government again over welfare reform and work bill proposals to cut £30 a week from the benefits of ill and disabled people who have been found unfit to work.

All is not well in the non-GAAP paradise known as Tesla's Gigafactory, where labor tensions are suddenly running high.

According to Bloomberg, at least 100 workers at the construction site for Tesla's massive (and taxpayer subsidized) battery factory near Reno, Nevada, walked off the job Monday to protest use of workers from other states, a union official said.

It used to be that workers were upset when foreigners were brought in; now it's workers from out of state.

Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

More Than 30 Blocks Of Fiscal Irresponsibility