Washington Post (January 25)
“The nation’s economy was supposed to have sunk into recession by now, dragged down by the highest interest rates in two decades and a resulting slump in borrowing and spending. Instead, the U.S. economy has kept chugging along. Even more encouraging, inflation, which touched a four-decade high in 2022, has edged steadily lower without the painful layoffs that most economists had thought would be necessary to slow the acceleration of prices.”
Tags: Acceleration, Borrowing, Economists, Economy, Encouraging, Inflation, Interest rates, Layoffs, Painful, Recession, Slump, Spending, U.S.
IR Magazine (November 11)
“It was a bad few weeks for tech companies with the Twitter and Meta layoffs, and then Amazon lost $1 tn in market value….For perspective, that’s almost like losing what Google’s parent Alphabet is worth, which is now around $1.13 tn. The loss makes Amazon the first public company ever to lose $1 tn.”
Tags: $1 tn, Alphabet, Amazon, Bad, Google, Layoffs, Loss, Market value, Meta, Tech companies, Twitter
Bloomberg (August 19)
“The US mortgage industry is seeing its first lenders go out of business after a sudden spike in lending rates, and the wave of failures that’s coming could be the worst since the housing bubble burst about 15 years ago.” Though a “systemic meltdown” is not expected, market watchers still anticipate “a string of bankruptcies broad enough to trigger a spike in layoffs in an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of workers, and potentially an increase in some lending rates.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, Failures, Housing bubble, Industry, Layoffs, Lenders, Market, Mortgage, Rates, Spike, Systemic meltdown, U.S.
Orange County Register (December 2)
“Disney will lay off more than 11,500 Disneyland and Disney California Adventure employees as the company continues to struggle with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the eight-month closure of its Anaheim theme parks.” Even with the approaching vaccine, “the 11,572 Disneyland layoffs add to a grim and growing tally that last stood at 10,000 terminations.”
Tags: Anaheim, Closure, Coronavirus, Disney, Disneyland, Employees, Layoffs, Pandemic, Struggle, Theme parks
Bloomberg (December 9)
Hong Kong is facing the “‘worst ever,” as layoffs and store closures multiply. “More than 5,600 retail jobs could be lost and thousands of stores shut down over the next six months, as pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong continue to disrupt sales during the crucial festive period.”
Tags: Disrupt, Hong Kong, Layoffs, Pro-democracy, Protests, Retail jobs, Sales, Store closures, Worst ever
Washington Post (January 14)
“The China bubble has burst,” but the nation’s trajectory remains unclear. “The worst outcome—a doomsday scenario—would have China fostering worldwide deflation. Its growth would continue to deteriorate sharply, extending the decline in commodity prices and the weakness of global trade. Around the world, there would be more production cuts, layoffs and bankruptcies.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, Bubble, Burst, China, Commodity prices, Deflation, Doomsday, Global trade, Layoffs, Outcome, Production cuts, Unclear, Worst