Disney in focus amid reports of Pixar job cuts, while markets get off to lacklustre start to new trading week

“It’s a lacklustre start to the week for equities as the major indices tread water on both sides of the Atlantic,” says Dan Coatsworth, Investment Analyst at AJ Bell.

“Consumers and businesses are buckling under the weight of higher interest rates and investors are growing increasingly frustrated about when central banks will start chopping.

“Markets are driven by what investors think will happen and gloom spreads quickly when there aren’t favourable data points or commentary to fire up hopes of looser monetary policy.”

Disney / Pixar

“Protecting profit margins has been high on the corporate agenda for some time and the longer interest rates remain high, and consumer spending becomes more fragile, the more management teams are hunting for new ways to stay efficient. That includes keeping a lid on costs where possible, hence why we continue to see job cuts.

“Reports that Disney-owned Pixar is cutting 14% of its workforce plays into a growing trend across the animation industry to slash staff numbers. In recent years, the big streaming platforms were scrambling to green-light large amounts of content in the race to grow subscriber numbers in a highly competitive market. Growth has since been harder to sustain and more thought is being given to the economics of productions, with studios no longer commissioning each bright idea that lands on their desk.

“Disney has suffered a series of duds at the box office and straight-to-streaming releases for both its live action and animated output, meaning it needs to make sweeping changes. Bob Iger returned to Disney to steady the ship and extensive cost-cutting is part of his big plan.”

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