Wage Growth: Earnings Growth and Analysts Investors

wage growth: See At a 10-year high, wage growth for American workers likely to keep accelerating But what's good for American workers isn't necessarily good for corporations, as analysts and investors interviewed by Market Watch warned that higher wages could contribute to an increasingly depressing picture for corporate earnings growth in 2019, according to Market Watch. Read Don't hit panic button' economists find the jobs report wasn't as bad as 20,000 headline suggests The 3.4% year-over-year jump in wages represents a growing threat to profit margins, emailed Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell. But many analysts and economists were quick to point out that the report was more bullish for the U.S. economy than the headline number suggested, with special attention given to rising pay for American workers, as average hourly earnings rose at their fastest rate in nearly a decade. Analysts said the weaker-than-expected payrolls number and growing concerns over a global economic slowdown combined to sink major U.S. stock benchmarks for a fifth straight day Friday. Over the past six months, estimates earnings per share forecasts have fallen 5.3%, from 176.69 per share on Sept. 7 of last year to 169.79 today, according to Fact Set. In early afternoon activity, the S&P 500 SPX, -0.21% was off 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.09% declined around 142 points, or 0.6%. Both benchmarks were on track for a weekly fall of around 2.7%. And it's these pressures on profit margins that are of most concern to investors today, as they have been a significant driver of rapidly shrinking earnings estimates for firms in the S&P 500 index firms. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.