It was a choppy session for stocks Thursday as market participants weighed the latest jobs data against expectations for a rate cut at next week's Federal Reserve meeting. Still, small caps rallied hard on hopes for lower interest rates, while speculation over a Mag 7 stock's massive spending cuts kept the Nasdaq Composite above water.
Ahead of the open, data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed that U.S.-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts in November – up 24% year over year. While this marked a 53% drop from the number of layoffs announced in October, it's still the highest for the month since 2022.
