#658: An unusual First Friday episode because we don't have a jobs report.

However, we do know that in October, U.S. companies announced more job cuts in a single month than they have over any single month of the last 20 years. In other words, October was peak job cut month.

By contrast, private payrolls, as reported by ADP, rose by 42,000 in October, so we have a little bit of conflicting data. Some pessimistic, some optimistic. We're going to take a deeper look at that in today's episode.

Timestamps:

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(00:00) Conflicting Job Market Data

(03:40) Youth Unemployment and AI’s Impact

(10:16) Fed Rate Cuts and Housing Market

(20:23) New Job Postings Lowest in 4 Years

(20:54) Consumer Sentiment

(22:04) Social Security Payments Increase in 2026

(23:33) Rising Car Costs and Repossessions

(24:46) Good News for Prescription Drug Prices

(31:50) Government Shutdown Impacts

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