The Dow Jones (DJIA) is trading lower on Thursday amid a flurry of concerning labor market signals.
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Planned layoffs in January rose by 118% from December to 108,435, according to new data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, marking the highest monthly total since the Great Recession in 2009. The firm noted that contract losses, market and economic conditions, and restructuring were the biggest contributors to layoffs, while AI was responsible for 7%. The layoff numbers were boosted by UPS (UPS) and Amazon (AMZN) announcing 53,534 job cuts during the month.
“Generally, we see a high number of job cuts in the first quarter, but this is a high total for January,” said Andy Challenger, Challenger’s Chief Revenue Officer. “It means most of these plans were set at the end of 2025, signaling employers are less-than-optimistic about the outlook for 2026.”
Furthermore, hiring has continued to be weak, with employers announcing 5,306 hires, also the lowest since 2009. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) confirmed the trend, showing 6.542 million job openings in December, below the consensus estimate of 7.25 million and down from 6.928 million in November.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor’s weekly claims data showed that initial jobless claims rose by 22,000 to 231,000, above the consensus estimate of 212,000. Continuing jobless claims, which trail initial claims by a week, increased by 25,000 to 1.844 million and were below expectations of 1.85 million. Initial jobless claims serve as a gauge of layoffs, while continuing jobless claims track the number of people receiving unemployment benefits and reflect ongoing unemployment.
The Dow Jones is down by 0.61% at the time of writing.
Which Stocks are Moving the Dow Jones?
Let’s pivot to TipRanks’ Dow Jones Heatmap, which illustrates the stocks that have contributed to the index’s price action.
Software stocks, like Microsoft (MSFT) and Salesforce (CRM), are continuing to sell off on fears that AI will intensify competition and lower sales within the industry. Amazon is also trading lower ahead of its earnings report after the closing bell today.
Elsewhere, most sectors in the Dow Jones are showing mixed performance. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is continuing to trade lower following a lackluster earnings report, while Merck (MRK) has lifted its weekly gain to over 10%.
Is the Dow Jones a Good Long-Term Investment?
The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) is an exchange-traded fund designed to track the movement of the Dow Jones. As a result, DIA is falling alongside the Dow Jones today.
Wall Street believes that DIA stock has room to rise. During the past three months, analysts have issued an average DIA price target of $555.08, implying upside of 12.91% from current prices. The 30 holdings in DIA carry 30 buy ratings, zero hold ratings, and zero sell ratings.