The S&P 500 (SPX) is trading lower following the latest layoff data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. U.S. employers announced 60,620 job cuts in March, up by 25% from February. The technology, transportation, and healthcare sectors faced the largest share of layoffs.
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New trading tool for QQQ bulls“Removing the wave of federal layoffs announced in February and March of last year, job cut announcements in 2026 are closely following the pattern of 2025,” said Challenger Chief Revenue Officer Andy Challenger. Employers announced 275,240 job cuts in March 2025.
Tech Sector Layoffs Expected to Accelerate
Employers announced 217,362 cuts during the first quarter, the lowest total for the quarter since 2022 and down by 56% year-over-year.
Challenger expects more layoff plans across the tech sector and pointed out that Dell (DELL) contributed a significant amount to the March figure. Earlier this week, Oracle (ORCL) announced that it would slash thousands of jobs in a bid to allocate more capital to AI infrastructure, a trend seen across the sector.