Friday morning's dismal jobs report only goes to prove whatever people already believed about government policy.
The big picture: Democrats and progressivesare convinced that the weak pace of job growth only serves to underscore the necessity of massive government spending to boost the economy.
Economists had been expecting the economy to add nearly 1 million jobs last month but it only added 266,000. This speed bump in the U.S. economic recovery could change the political debate over whether or not to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure and social services.
Axios Re:Cap is joined by Axios chief financial correspondent Felix Salmon and Axios political reporter Sarah Mucha to dig into what the jobs report says about the U.S. economy and what it means for President Biden’s plans.
President Biden said Friday that the disappointing April jobs report, which showed the U.S. economy added just 266,000 jobs last month, underscores the importance of the COVID-19 relief package and his other proposed spending plans.
Why it matters: Economists had expected a gain of around 1 million jobs last month, making this the biggest payrolls miss, relative to expectations, in decades.
Carl Icahn has sold his remaining 5 million shares in nutritional supplement maker Herbalife, valued at around $248 million.
Why it matters: This is the coda to one of the most public and contentious fights in the history of activist investing, with Icahn's long position wiping the floor with Bill Ackman's short position.
Private equity's "Golden Age" may be on the verge of a comeback, after more than a decade of changed behavior.
Driving the news: Bloomberg reports that several groups of big PE firms are forming to bid on Illinois-based Medline Industries, a family-owned medical supply giant that could fetch around $30 billion.
The U.S. economyadded a mere 266,000 jobs last month. Forecasters had floated gains close to 1 million, making this the biggest miss, relative to expectations, in decades.
Why it matters: It's a major setback for the hopes of a speedy labor-market recovery alongside America's great reopening.
First-time unemployment claims fell again, the Labor Department reported Thursday, with seasonally adjusted claims falling below 500,000 for the first time since March 2020, and unadjusted claims showing a decline of more than 107,000 from the previous week.
Why it matters: It's the latest sign of a strengthening labor market and could set the stage for a big jobs report on Friday.
Americans are slowly getting ready to fly again, with 44% of U.S. adults now saying they plan to fly in the next six months, data from CivicScience show.
By the numbers: That’s a 1 percentage-point bump from March and an 8 percentage-point increase from September. However, it's still well below pre-pandemic levels.
Investors are picking sides in a battle happening in the bond market that is seeing inflation expectations surge higher but nominal U.S. Treasury yields remain low and anchored in a tight range.
Why it matters: The disconnect between inflation expectations and the Treasury market could be driving much of the risk-taking behavior in assets like stocks, cryptocurrencies and commodities.
Epic's Apple lawsuit is costing the company dearly, but the game developer has its eye on a valuable long-term goal: prying tomorrow's virtual worlds loose from the grip of app store proprietors like Apple.
Between the lines: Epic isn't spending a fortune in legal fees and foregoing a ton of revenue just to shave some costs off in-app purchases on today's phones. Rather, it's planning for a future of creating virtual universes via augmented and virtual reality — without having to send a big chunk of their economies to Apple or Google.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump agree on at least one thing: Buy American. The slogan was a centerpiece of Biden's recent address to Congress, backed up with one of his first executive orders.
Why it matters: Federal law has placed a heavy thumb on the scales when it comes to hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. government spending. But it's far from clear that it will have its desired effect.
