To The Moon

My Investing Muse (01Dec25)

Layoffs, Bankruptcy & Closure news

AMAZON LAYOFFS HIT NEARLY 2,000 ENGINEERS - Amazon’s latest round of job cuts has reached deep into its technical ranks, eliminating nearly 2,000 engineering roles and signalling a sharper reset of the company’s ambitions in key growth areas. The reductions, which hit teams working on everything from Alexa to core retail systems, mark one of the most concentrated blows to Amazon’s engineering workforce since its broader downsizing began. - MSN

Companies have announced more than 1.1 million layoffs so far this year, a 44% increase from the total number of layoffs in 2024, per YF

Approximately 30% of all job postings are fake, per MorePerfectUnion

39,006 Americans got advance layoff warnings in October, the second-highest since the 2020 crisis, up 160% in two months, per MW.

Unemployed Americans with 4-year college degrees now make up a record 25.3% of total unemployment. The percentage has doubled since the 2008 Financial Crisis. This comes as over 1.9 million workers aged 25+ with at least a bachelor’s degree are now unemployed. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for Americans aged 20–24 is up to 9.2%, the highest since May 2021. This rate has risen +2.2 points YoY, an increase not seen outside recessions. The US labor market is weakening across all education levels. - X user The Kobeissi Letter

AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and spike unemployment to 10% to 20% in the next one to five years, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has said. - Unusual Whales

US manufacturing employment continues to decline: The US economy lost -6,000 manufacturing jobs in September, marking the 5th consecutive monthly contraction. During this period, manufacturing jobs have dropped by -58,000, to 12.71 million, the lowest since March 2022. Since the start of 2024, manufacturing jobs have seen 12 monthly declines. Overall, manufacturing jobs have fallen by -194,000 since the February 2023 peak. Meanwhile, transportation and warehousing employment plunged by -25,000 in September, to 6.71 million, the lowest since November 2024. Industrial sectors are under pressure. - X user The Kobeissi Letter

U.S. LAYOFF NOTICES ARE SURGING AT A RECESSION PACE - NewsWire

My Final Thoughts

Tax Loss harvesting is expected to take place this coming week. At the year ends, we can expect positions to be closed as businesses close out the financial/calendar year. We are still waiting on the impact of the Epstein file. This is likely to bring down some of our leaders - from the realms of politics, business, social and academia. This is affecting the citizens as justice was owed to the victims.

During a recent coffee session, I was chatting with some industry veterans and experts about AI. We are likely to see a transformation of work and workforce. Personally, I need to see a more robust data privacy, security, governance, ethics and policy in place as we delegate more work to AI. This leads me to the next part, where AI needs an adequate energy infrastructure.

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With growing demand and limited capacity, this can be a short-term bottleneck as the government ramps up green energy production and invests in infrastructure.

With some key data releases, let us be hopeful for the best and prepared for the worst.

Financial Strategy and Outlook

Let us spend within our means, invest only what we can afford to lose, and avoid leverage. Let us review our current holdings with the intention of divesting from businesses that are losing their competitive advantages. Additionally, I will consider adding both hedging strategies and defensive positions to our portfolio to mitigate risk.

As we move forward, it is crucial to conduct thorough due diligence before assuming any new responsibilities.

Wishing everyone a successful week ahead.

@TigerStars

$Salesforce.com(CRM)$

$Vanguard S&P 500 ETF(VOO)$