TheStreet's JD Durkin brings the latest business headlines from the New York Stock Exchange as markets close trading on Thursday, February 1.
Full video transcript below:
JD DURKIN: I'm JD Durkin, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. This is what we are seeing today on TheStreet.
stocks closed today's session in green. The Dow closed up more than 350 points, the Nasdaq closed up 1.3 percent and the S&P closed up 1.2 percent. This comes as investors continue to react to the Federal Reserve holding interest rates steady, while signaling that a rate cut in March would be unlikely. Markets are now pricing in a 38 percent chance of a rate cut in March.
Elsewhere, investors await the January jobs report due out on Friday. Wall Street expects the U.S. economy to have added 176,500 jobs last month and for the unemployment rate to rise to 3.8 percent.
In other news, we know that layoffs have been a priority in the business world starting in 2024, but now we know how bad it has been. According to a new report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, layoffs in January increased 136 percent from the previous month. In total, 82,307 workers were laid off by US employers in the first month of the year, marking the highest number of layoffs in January since 2009.
In addition to questions about interest rates and that 2024 will be an election year, the report says these layoffs are also driven by “broader economic trends and a strategic shift toward greater automation and ai adoption across several sectors, although in most cases, companies point out the costs. -Cuts are the main factor in layoffs.”
The financial sector experienced more layoffs than any other industry with 23,238 workers laid off. This was followed by the technology sector, with almost 16,000 layoffs, and the food production industry, which laid off approximately 6,660 workers.
When asked why employees were being laid off, restructuring was the number one response from employers. And if you're worried about ai coming to the workplace, keep in mind that artificial intelligence was blamed for less than one percent of January's layoffs.
That will be enough for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm JD Durkin of TheStreet.
