Not bashing any companies or anything, but I think it's worth making a clear distinction now that everyone is talking about the "R" word in Canada.
If we are, I wouldn't be surprised. The economy needs people buying and selling shit. If people are getting laid off left, right and center, guess what? No one's buying shit.
Now I guess people getting laid off happens, but in my head that shit should only happen if a company absolutely needs to. Like you're bleeding cash, not making any money, not making any profits...but you have a quarter where your profits are down and you decide to axe sometimes thousands of people? Nah son.
Now, a company like SHELL who's profits are down 37% goes ahead and lays off a few thousand people...their stock may go up or stabilize (mmmm, market. Good), but that means there's a whole lot of people who aren't buying anything. No new cars, clothes, etc (mmmm, economy, bad).
Now this is also true for companies that literally make BILLIONS in profit in a QUARTER...but still lay people off because they "missed their targets", etc.
I really think we need to employ a valuation of companies based on their overall "health" and not just quarterly projections...because going after those short term quarterly winfalls may be good "for the market"...but all those people not working, buying and spending is bad for the economy overall.