Wall Street cautiously advanced in New York on Thursday, following the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) and European markets higher, as the latest batch of US data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates for a third time in a row next week.
Bets on a US rate cut have risen to around 90%, helped by Fed officials signalling that protecting jobs now takes priority over squeezing lingering inflation. That shift was sharpened by ADP figures on Wednesday showing that 32,000 jobs were lost in November, well below the expected 10,000 gain from Bloomberg.
“Hiring has been choppy of late as employers weather cautious consumers and an uncertain macroeconomic environment,” ADP chief economist Nela Richardson said.
The reading was also the most since early 2023 and is the latest example of a stuttering labour market.
Also on Thursday, US companies announced 71,321 layoffs last month, according to a report from the global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, as workers stressed about the state of a sluggish job market.
The cuts were up 24% from the nearly 58,000 planned layoffs announced in November 2024, and amounted to the highest total for the month since 2022.
The data comes on the heels of last month’s brutal Challenger, Gray & Christmas report, which detailed the worst October for layoff plans since 2003 amid a rash of cuts from major employers like Amazon (AMZN). Layoff announcements last month were at 153,074.
Meanwhile, UK businesses cut jobs at their fastest pace in four years in November. A survey of chief financial officers at British firms, conducted by the Bank of England, has found that employment levels were cut by an annual rate of 1.8%. It was the biggest monthly drop since July 2021.
Firms expect to keep cutting their headcounts; expectations for employment growth over the next year fell to -0.7% in November, the gloomiest outlook since October 2020.
Elsewhere, WPP (WPP.L) has been relegated from the FTSE 100 after nearly 30 years, as the advertising giant battles with an exodus of clients and the growing AI and data capabilities of rivals.
Once the world’s largest advertising group, its market valuation has plummeted from around £24bn in 2017 to £3.1bn.
The company’s share price has plunged by two-thirds this year alone, and it has now been relegated from the blue chip index after a quarterly reshuffle, which was confirmed when stock markets closed on Wednesday afternoon.
British Land (BLND.L), which was the most valuable company in the FTSE 250, was promoted to take WPP’s spot.