Signs of recession?
- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, stated:
- It is time to “batten down the hatches”
- “The economy does not look great right now.”
- “Things are slowing down, you are seeing layoffs in many, many sectors of the economy”
- “The probabilities say if we are not in a recession right now, we are likely to be in one very soon”
- Recommends that businesses delay purchases and stockpile cash
- “Take as much risk off the table as you can”
- “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst”
- Amazon.com announced it will lay off 10,000 employees due to declining revenue
- “We are realistic that there is various factors weighing on people’s wallets.”; stated CFO Brian Olsavsky
- Company is unsure where economy was headed
- “We are ready for a variety of outcomes”
- Carvana announced it has laid off 1,500 workers due to slowing used car sales.
- Bloomberg News is reporting that the tech sector in the U.S. laid off 9,587 people in October, 2022
- Total job cuts during month equaled 33,843 people
- Challenger, Gray & Christmas Consulting is reporting that the tech sector lost 31,200 employees so far in November, 2022
- Meta/Facebook announced it will cut 13% of its workforce equaling more than 11,000 employees
- “the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I would have expected”; stated Mark Zuckerberg, CEO.
- CNBC is reporting that Salesforce.com laid off hundreds of workers, but less than 1,000.
- Bloomberg News is reporting that Intel Corp. will have some divisions shed up to 20% of their employees.
- IDC is reporting that total global shipments of PCs, including desktops and laptops, declined 15% compared to a year ago.
- Axios News is reporting that Microsoft Corp. laid off just under 1,000 employees across several divisions last month.
- “Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly”
- Lyft, the ride sharing service, announced it will lay off 683 employees due to declining revenue.
- “We are not immune to the realities of inflation and a slowing economy.
- “There are several challenges playing out across the economy”
- CNBC is reporting that household debt soared at fastest pace in 15 years as credit card use surges
- Credit card balances collectively rose more than 15% from the same period in 2021
- Largest annual jump in more than 20 years
- Total debt jumped by $351 billion during last quarter to $930 billion
- Collective household IOU rose 8.3% in the U.S. to a record of $16.5 trillion
- Mortgage balances rose $1 trillion to $11.7 trillion
- Auto loan balances rose 5.6% to $1.52 trillion
- Student loan debt of $1.57 trillion with 4% delinquent rate
- Warner Brothers/Discovery CEO David Zaslav stated that the advertising market was weaker than at any point during coronavirus pandemi
- “if the ad market does not improve next year it is going to be hard to hit the company’s $12 billion earnings forecast for 2023
- The National Association of Realtors announced that sales of previously owned homes dropped 5.9% last month, the slowest pace since 12/2011.
- 28.4% drop YoY