A decline in weekly jobless claims will offset news of more job cuts in the technology and retail sectors. This should send several stocks up in those two sectors in Friday morning trade.
The weekly jobless claims fell by 16,000 to 187,000, according to the Labor Department. This is a low not seen in nearly 1.5 years. The figure suggests strong job growth for January 2024. This is bad news for the stock market. It does not support the central bank’s hints of cutting rates any time soon. Investors should forecast a rate cut from Q1 to Q2 of this year.
Meta Platforms (META), which started the year of efficiency theme of 2023, continues to influence firms in the technology sector. Meta said last week that it would cut 60 positions in the technical program manager function. Look for META stock to pop today and in the days ahead.
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai is copying Meta’s job cost goals. It will cut more than 1,000 staff across various business units. This includes digital assistant, hardware, and engineering. Google subsidiary YouTube will cut around 100 jobs in the operations and creator management area.
Amazon (AMZN) will reduce hundreds of staff in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios division.
In retail, Macy’s will cut 2,350 jobs, which amounts to 3.5% of its workforce. This will reduce its costs amid slowing sales.
