This is a known issue:

Re: Syntax error in VFP 8 Thread #776151 Message #776188

>Bug in VFP8 with label (work fine in VFP7/VFP6)
>I reported the error last year when I tried VFP8 beta
>
>create a Label
>in the properties sheet..:
>set Caption to =
>or to ="="
>or to =CHR(61)
>or to ='='
>or to =[=]
>or by prog.. label1.Caption = "=" [...]
>
>Caption property can't begin with = sign
>you must insert a space before = sign
>like this:
>=" ="
>
>Why ?