The best argument for the Cowboys keeping coach Mike McCarthy is that he presided over consecutive 12-win seasons. That argument presumably would also apply to the various members of the coaching staff who now find themselves out of work.
In addition to senior defensive assistant George Edwards and running backs coach Skip Peete, the Cowboys have parted ways with offensive line coach Joe Philbin, assistant defensive line coach Leon Lett, and assistant head coach Rob Davis, according to Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
As PFT noted earlier in the week, the contracts had expired for all but four members of the coaching staff. But it’s still a firing, as a practical matter, to not offer them new contracts.
And it makes me wonder whether something else is going on behind the scenes. Something like owner Jerry Jones discreetly lining up the replacement for the head coach before firing the head coach, because Jones will fire the head coach only if he gets the replacement Jones wants.
In unrelated (or not) developments, Sean Payton’s candidacy with the four teams that had expressed interest in his services seems to have become bogged down, by something.
Bitcoin fell as much as 9% Thursday after the Federal Reserve released “hawkish” minutes Wednesday.
Ethereum, cardano, binance coin, solana and other cryptocurrencies were also deeply in the red.
The Fed is planning to cut back its support for the economy, spelling trouble for risky assets.
Bitcoin fell as much as 9% Thursday and the broader cryptocurrency market was a sea of red, after minutes revealed the Federal Reserve could soon start rapidly cutting back its support for the economy.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency by market value was down 7.3% over the 24 hours to 11.10 a.m. ET on the Coinbase exchange, trading at $42,928. Earlier Thursday, it was as low as $42,433. The sharp drop put bitcoin more than 35% below a record high of close to $69,000 touched in November.
Ethereum, the second-biggest token, had plunged more than 10% to $3,395. Solana had tumbled roughly 11%, and binance coin and XRP were both about 4% lower.
The crypto sell-off began Wednesday after the Fed released “hawkish” minutes from its December meeting, which showed the US central bank could tighten monetary policy faster than previously expected.
In December, the US central bank said it would speed up reductions in its bond purchases and signaled that interest rates would rise in 2022 as it grapples with the strongest inflation in 39 years.
Yet the minutes released Wednesday show policymakers could well go even further and faster than that, and the central bank could even start selling the bonds it bought during the coronavirus crisis.
“It may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated,” they said.
Read more: 9 crypto experts told us their investing outlooks for 2022, from bitcoin price predictions to high-conviction altcoin picks and what’s next for regulation
The reaction in the markets was swift. Bond yields shot up and cryptocurrencies and technology stocks — two asset classes that have benefited the most from the Fed’s ultra-loose monetary policy — got trashed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index was up 0.66% Thursday as it recovered some ground.
Analysts said higher bond yields make cryptocurrencies and unprofitable tech companies look less attractive. Instead, investors are pivoting towards companies that can benefit from economic growth and deliver good returns as inflation stays hot.
“We see bitcoin behave closer to a small-cap tech stock,” said Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat.
Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at Oanda, said the “buy everything trade” is on its last legs. “Young pups … nurtured at the central bank pool of eternal [quantitative easing], will have to learn the meaning of the term ‘two-way price volatility,'” he said.
Marcus Sotiriou, analyst at digital asset broker GlobalBlock, said high levels of borrowing in crypto markets had worsened the sell-off. He said there was a “significant amount of leverage being wiped out of the market.”
Employees prepare orders for customers at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant in Hollywood, California.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Customers are returning to restaurants in droves, but workers haven’t, putting even more pressure on fast-food chains to retain market share and protect profits while navigating a tight labor market.
Restaurant executives have painted a bleak picture of staffing challenges to investors on their earnings calls in the last two weeks. CEOs like Domino’s Pizza’s Ritch Allison, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s Brian Niccol and McDonald’s Chris Kempczinski shared details on how eateries have shortened hours, restricted ordering methods and lost out on sales because they can’t find enough workers. Some chains have been hit harder by the labor crunch, like Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes, which saw about 40% of its dining rooms closed due to understaffing.
“This is kind of where we’re separating the wheat from the chaff,” said Neuberger Berman analyst Kevin McCarthy.
Raising wages is one popular approach to staffing problems, although it isn’t a perfect solution. McDonald’s wages at its franchised restaurants have risen roughly 10% so far this year as part of an effort to attract workers. Higher labor costs have led to increased menu prices, which are up about 6% from a year ago, according to McDonald’s executives.
Starbucks plans to spend roughly $1 billion in fiscal 2021 and 2022 on improving benefits for its baristas, including two planned wage hikes. The decision reduced its earnings forecast for fiscal 2022, disappointing investors and shaving off $8 billion in market cap. But McCarthy thinks more companies should take a page from the company’s playbook and invest in their employees.
“The stock is down, but I think they’re a winner out of this. Great move on their part, long-term definitely the right decision,” he said.
McCarthy said he’s been assuming that restaurant companies are losing roughly 5 points of traffic due to understaffing.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2021 and into 2022, most publicly traded restaurants said they expect the problem to persist for at least several more quarters. Texas Roadhouse CEO Gerald Morgan told analysts on Thursday that there are “a little bit” more people in the applicant pool, but he still thinks there’s a long way to go before the company has enough employees to meet demand.
Mark Kalinowski, founder of Kalinowski Equity Research, said executives for privately held restaurant companies are more pessimistic about the timeline for the labor market’s recovery.
“Typically when you have high-level people at private companies saying this is going to get worse, it usually is,” Kalinowski said.
He has lowered estimates for Starbucks’ fiscal 2022 results and Domino’s U.S. same-store sales growth next quarter after the companies’ latest earnings reports.
“Not every company is going to necessarily see a change in the sales forecast, but the margin side of things, you got to pay closer attention to, particularly for concepts that have 100% company-owned locations in the U.S. or are significantly company stores,” Kalinowski said.
Kalinowski said he’s favoring stocks with a higher concentration of franchised restaurants. McDonald’s, for example, only operates 5% of its U.S. locations, while the rest are run by franchisees.
More restaurant earnings are still ahead. Outback Steakhouse owner Bloomin’ Brands, Wingstop and Applebee’s owner Dine Brands and IHOP parent Dine Brands are among the companies expected to report their latest results next week. Some analysts, like Wedbush Securities’ Nick Setyan, have tweaked their estimates, given the earnings reports from peer companies.