US HOLIDAY HIRING DROPS TO 2011 LOW

US employers announced just 90,787 hiring plans in September, the weakest September total since 2011 and down 23% from 117,313 a year ago, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Retail accounted for 65,150 of those announcements, but seasonal hiring remains thin: only Spirit Halloween and Michaels have announced holiday plans so far this year, a combined 62,000 seasonal hires versus 100,800 at this point last September. Retailers ($XRT) are leaning on existing staff instead of building out holiday headcount.