Labor

As we detailed earlier, Shake-Shack shares crashed to record lows after the fast-food restaurant as increased labor costs (thanks to Obama's minimum-wage-hikes) crushed margins and caused menu price hikes that slowed demand...

Shack-level operating profit margins decreased 300 basis points to 25.2%, primarily due to increased labor and related expenses resulting from increases in hourly wages that were implemented at the end of fiscal 2016...

 

Senator Bernie Sanders said in a CNN interview tonight that, in its present form, the Trumpcare bill was not going to pass through the Senate.

'This bill, in its current form is not getting through the Senate, said Sanders.

After the abysmal March labor report, all we - and the Fed - can say is that April better be good, or else Yellen's claim of "transitory weakness" will simply be the latest nail in the coffin of Fed credibility. Here is the consensus for the key numbers the BLS will report at 8:30am ET on Friday morning.

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?"

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.