Dow dropped 391 near session lows, advancers over decliners 5-4 & NAZ added 15. The MLP index slid back to the 228s & the REIT index was up 1 to the 395s. Junk bond funds were mixed & Treasuries saw modest selling, raising yields. Oil continued higher above 80 & gold was off 11 to 1819 (more on both below).
AMJ (Alerian MLP Index tracking fund)
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](https://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif?0.2180338269244485)
Over 25K tech workers have lost their jobs globally just 17 days into the new year, according to data from Layoff.ai. The latest data shows 101 tech companies worldwide have laid off 25K employees so far in 2023. More than 22K of those employees are in the US. Though that figure is high, it's just a fraction of the 154K workers that were laid off in 2022 from over 1000 global tech companies. The platform listed the companies & the number of employees let go at each firm. Meta (META), Amazon (AMZN) & Salesforce (CRM), a Dow stock, topped the list with the most layoffs between Nov 2022 & Jan 2023. Meta announced it was cutting 11K positions last fall & CRM announced earlier this month it was trimming back its workforce by 10%. AMZN recently announced it was slashing more than 18K jobs as it contends with the challenging economic environment & the consequences of hiring too rapidly over the course of the pandemic. Earlier this month, AMZN said it would begin to contact affected employees who are part of the company's largest layoff in history on Jan 18. The more than 18K jobs represent a fraction of its global workforce. However, the move underscores the troubles that the industry is facing amid the uncertain economic environment. Over the past several months, several companies have announced layoffs to cut costs as the Federal Reserve tries to tame inflation.
Over 25,000 global tech workers laid off since start of 2023
As many businesses still struggle to fill job openings despite Ms of available positions nationwide, more experts are adding to the argument that the Great Resignation isn't over quite yet. "We're seeing historically high openings across the spectrum, certainly in things like leisure and hospitality and some low-wage service workers, but also in manufacturing, we have really high levels of job openings compared to the available unemployed workers out there," Cato Institute director of general economics Scott Lincicome said. "So this is really a system-wide issue," he continued, "and one that there's not really any easy, quick fix." The headline number of 223K jobs added in Dec comes from the Labor Dept's establishment survey, while the headline unemployment rate of 3.5% comes from the household survey. Both have their own measure of employment, but they tend to move roughly in sync with one another over time. In 2021, however, they diverged sharply. Since Mar, that divergence has been 2M jobs. The recent Nov jobs report indicated there were 10.4M jobs available, but just 6M people looking for a job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell claimed in Dec that there was a structural labor shortage taking place with more than 4M fewer workers available for current demand.
US job openings are historically high and there’s no ‘quick fix,’ expert warns
German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said that he believed the country would experience a mild recession in 2023, but that he felt positive about his country's economic outlook. “We still have to cope with high uncertainty, but I think the economic outlook is improving,” Lindner said. He added that he felt more positive about 2023 & 2024 than just a few months ago. “There is an opportunity to see faster economic recovery and faster decline in inflation rates than expected,” Lindner continued. Earlier this month, the country's inflation reading for Dec came back lower than expected as it declined to 9.6%. Lindner said he expected a “very mild” recession, but also believed the Germany economy was resilient. This included its broader industry as well as medium-sized companies, he explained. “The German economy has been able to reduce the gas consumption by more than 20% without reducing the production so this shows we are resilient,” the finance minister said, addressing pressures that Europe's economies have been facing since the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis. He said the German gov was now focused on “strengthening the competitiveness” of its economy. Lindner also addressed the US administration's Inflation Reduction Act, which he said he had some concerns about. “We need trade diplomacy and not any kind of trade war or a competition between the United States and European Union who can afford to pay more subsidies. There will the two losers, the U.S. and the European Union,” Lindner said. While he said he understood the US gov's focus areas of a green transition & its relationship with China, he also believes the “negative side effects on the European Union and our bilateral trade relationship” must be minimized.
German finance minister says country will likely face a ‘very mild’ recession
Gold futures settled with a loss, but held ground above the $1900 mark. Traders are focused on Chinese gold demand for the new year & on any potential surprises from the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos. Tomorrow's Bank of Japan meeting & reading on the US producer price index is also keeping precious metals traders on the edge. Gold for Feb fell $11 (0.6%) to settle at $1909 an ounce.
Gold Futures End Lower, Hold Above $1,900 an Ounce
US oil futures edged higher,
settling above $80 a barrel for the first time in more than 2 weeks. Traders continued to assess the energy demand outlook, particularly from
China, which recently released some better than expected economic data. The US benchmark WTI crude for Feb rose 32¢ (0.4%) to settle at $80.18 a barrel. That was the highest finish for a front-month
contract since Dec 30.
U.S. oil futures end above $80 for the first time in over 2 weeks
Many investors remain nervous in these unsettled times & gold is still in demand. The chart below shows Dow rose last month but, so far, was unable to advance further with recession fears on the minds of just about everybody. .Dow Jones Industrials
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