{"id":439195,"date":"2026-10-01T17:05:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/us-layoffs-ease-in-september-but-weak-hiring-keeps-nfp-in-focus-439195\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T17:05:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T10:05:31","slug":"us-layoffs-ease-in-september-but-weak-hiring-keeps-nfp-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/market-news\/us-layoffs-ease-in-september-but-weak-hiring-keeps-nfp-in-focus-439195\/","title":{"rendered":"US layoffs ease in September, but weak hiring keeps NFP in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">US-based employers announced 43,281 job cuts in September, down 18% from August and 20% from a year earlier. This marks the lowest total for the month since 2022, when 29,989 job cuts were recorded. Tech continues to lead layoffs, posting\u00a010,799 cuts in September &#8211; up 77% from August. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">But through the\u00a0first nine months of 2026, total announced layoffs are down 39% compared with the same period last year.\u00a0On the surface, that seems to be fairly reassuring.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">But when you look at hiring, that is where things get more interesting with this month&#8217;s Challenger report.\u00a0Employers announced plans to hire 90,787 workers in September, down 23% from a year ago and marking the weakest September total since 2011.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">Perhaps more importantly,\u00a0Challenger noted that the usual early surge in holiday-season hiring has been notably absent this time around.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">That puts even more attention on Friday&#8217;s non-farm payrolls (NFP) report. Analyst estimates show payrolls expected to rise by around 90,000 in September, with the unemployment rate holding at 4.1%. That follows yesterday&#8217;s ADP report which showed <a href=\"https:\/\/investinglive.com\/news\/us-adp-national-employment-vs-70k-expected\/\" rel=\"follow\">private payrolls rising by 90,000<\/a>, above the 70,000 expected.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">As a reminder, neither the ADP nor Challenger reports are a direct proxy for the NFP reading. But together,\u00a0they suggest employers are cautious rather than aggressively pulling back.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">With surging bond yields already keeping broader markets on edge, the Friday reaction to the US jobs report could really bite. 10-year Treasury yields are threatening a firm break above 5.30% today\u00a0as inflation, energy prices and fiscal concerns keep the bond vigilantes firmly in control.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">A strong NFP print could give bond sellers another reason to push yields higher and keep the pressure on equities. Meanwhile, a soft number may offer Treasuries some bit part relief but with the long-end facing pressures well beyond the labour market, it may take a genuinely weak report to change the  tone in the bond market; in turn for broader markets too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\" class=\"text-align-justify\">\n<p>                            This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US-based employers announced 43,281 job cuts in September, down 18% from August and 20% from a year earlier. This marks the lowest total for the month since 2022, when 29,989 job cuts&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-439195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439195\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swingfish.trade\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}