Report: Job Cuts Surge in January; Highest January Total Since 2009
U.S.-based employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January, an increase of 118% from the 49,795 cuts announced in the same month last year. It is up 205% from the 35,553 job cuts announced in December, according to a report released Thursday from global outplacement and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. January’s total is the highest for the month since 2009, when 241,749 job cuts were announced. It is the highest monthly total since October 2025, when 153,074 cuts were
Bedrock CEO Talks Talent Attraction, Tax Abatements
Bedrock CEO Jared Fleischer talks taxes during the Detroit Policy Conference at The Hudson in downtown Detroit. Jared Fleischer believes one of the key to finding economic success is acknowledging that “place matters.” Fleischer, the CEO of Bedrock, said one of the reasons Michigan is struggling to find a higher level of success is the state’s fall in terms of personal income. He pointed out that he learned at a recent conference that Michigan has fallen from the top 10 in personal income to somewhere
Fed Declines to Cut Key Interest Rate
Despite continuing political pressure from President Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve this week decided against cutting its key interest rate after its first meeting of 2026. The decision leaves the rate at some 3.6% after lowering it three times last year. At a news conference announcing the decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the economy’s outlook “has clearly improved since the last meeting” in December, a development that should boost hiring over time. The central bank in a statement said there
Confidence in U.S. Economy Falls to Lowest Level Since 2014
It’s been a dozen years since Americans have felt this disillusioned about the U.S. economy. Consumer confidence declined in January, hitting its lowest level since 2014, according to figures released by The Conference Board, a global nonprofit think tank and business membership organization. The Conference Board said this week that its consumer confidence index fell 9.7 points to 84.5 in January, falling below even the lowest readings during the Covid pandemic, according to a report from The Associated
Interest Rate Update
Yesterday’s FOMC announcement was uneventful, as evidenced by term rates ending the day unchanged. However, rate cut expectations for 2026 have been changing quite a bit over the past few weeks. At the end of December, markets were looking for 2.8 cuts by January 2027 and that has moved down to 1.8 cuts in recent weeks. The main driver of this repricing has been better than expected US Economic data. To this point, the updated FOMC statement mentioned that economic growth was “expanding at a solid pace”
