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October's job losses in the U.S. were nearly twice as high as a month earlier — the steepest for any October since 2003, data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed. The technology sector was the hardest hit, with 33,281 cuts, almost six times September's total. Being laid off is an awful feeling — and it must feel bitterly ironic to work in a field that's developing the very technology making you redundant. One person spared both redundancy fears and existential doubt is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who just had a nearly $1 trillion pay package approved by Tesla shareholders. To earn the full trillion, though, Musk has to meet a chain of performance targets, culminating in Tesla reaching an $8.5 trillion valuation. Its market cap is currently $1.54 trillion — by contrast, the world's most valuable company now is Nvidia, which briefly hit a $5 trillion valuation last Wednesday. After Thursday's slump in tech stocks, however, Nvidia's market cap has dipped to a "mere" $4.57 trillion. Other tech companies, such as Microsoft , Broadcom and Palantir Technologies , also fell broadly over concerns that their stock prices are too high. Those moves dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite down by 1.9%. For most tech workers and investors, Thursday was another reminder of volatility's sting. For Elon Musk, it was just another day on the road to the stratosphere. U.S. layoffs in October spiked. There were 153,074 job cuts for the month, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That's 183% higher than in September and 175% more than a year earlier. Musk's $1 trillion pay plan approved. More than 75% of Tesla shareholders have voted in favor of CEO Elon Musk's package, the company announced Thursday. The plan would also increase Musk's stake in Tesla to 25% from about 13%. 'No federal bailout for AI.' Venture capitalist David Sacks, U.S. President Donald Trump's AI and crypto czar, made that comment in response to OpenAI CFO Sarah Frair, who on Wednesday suggested the establishment of a federal "backstop" for the startup. U.S. markets tumble as tech retreats. Major indexes fell Thursday stateside, with the Nasdaq Composite suffering the heaviest losses. The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.7%. Meanwhile, the Bank of England expectedly kept rates unchanged. [PRO] Qualcomm falls despite beating earnings expectations. Shares of the semiconductor company sank 3.6% on Thursday even as it reported solid results and raised its guidance. Here's why investors are reacting negatively to the report.
