You have it backwards. Layoffs these days increase stock value because everyone is hedging that bad job numbers will force the feds to lower interest rates. Something Powell has hesitated to do in order to keep inflation in check.

It's a very screwed up incentive to be rewarded for breaking the system, but that's 2025 in a nutshell.

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jameslk 4 hours ago | parent [-]

> Layoffs these days increase stock value because everyone is hedging that bad job numbers will force the feds to lower interest rates.

Layoffs generally cause stock prices to go up because of anticipated cost reduction/efficiency: https://doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwab046

If you have some source to make the case that layoff-stock price change is correlated for a different reason these days, it would be interesting to read it. But I doubt anything has changed

	▲	johnnyanmac 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		>If you have some source to make the case that layoff-stock price change is correlated for a different reason these days, it would be interesting to read it. The phenomenon is pretty recent so there won't truly be any studies on it in a while. But look up "Jobless Boom". Here's a piece of what I'm talking about: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jobless-boom-ai-economy-labor-m... >For much of 2025, the job market was described by economists as "no hire, no fire," meaning an environment where workers could count on job security even as hiring around the U.S. cooled. But conditions have changed, and the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate in both September and October, citing increasing risks to employment growth and with Fed Chair Jerome Powell noting that policymakers are closely watching layoff announcements by big employers. personally, I think the AI efficiencies are a smokescreen, but the point of how this job contraction is forcing he fed's hands is hard to ignore after some 2 years of holding rates steady.