WSJ What’s News - Bankers Wanted: Why Wall Street’s Job Market is Red Hot

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

P.M. Edition for Sept. 24. Hiring may be slowing for many industries, but the biggest banks on Wall Street have been adding headcount. We hear from WSJ reporter AnnaMaria Andriotis about what’s behind the hot job market, and whether it’s sustainable. Plus, a rule change at the Internal Revenue Service could have a big impact on a tax break for high-earning workers 50 and over. WSJ personal finance reporter Ashlea Ebeling breaks down what the rule means. And a shooting at an immigration facility in Dallas has left one detainee dead and two injured. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A shooting at an immigration facility in Dallas leaves one detainee dead and two injured. Plus, as dealmaking picks up on Wall Street, big banks are on the hunt for talent. This is about banks seeking to take more market share from each other, and we are talking about pretty much the biggest banks in the investment banking space. And why high earners 50 and over are about to lose a major tax break for their 401Ks. It's Wednesday, September 24th. I'm Alex O'Sullough for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News,

the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We begin this evening with the latest on the shooting at a Texas immigration facility. The Homeland Security Department said that one detainee was killed and two more were critically injured. When a shooter opened fire at an immigration and customs and enforcement, enforcement field office in Dallas. The Dallas Police Department said a preliminary investigation determined that a suspect shot at the office from an adjacent building. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem said in a post on X that the suspected shooter was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No other information about the suspected shooter was provided. Joseph Rothrock, special agent in charge of

the Federal Bureau of Investigations Dallas Field Office, said early evidence showed rounds found near the suspected shooter, quote, contained messages that are anti-ice in nature. We'll have more on this developing story on WSJ.com. We'll leave a link in the show notes. The U.S. is set to lower European car tariffs to 15%. That's according to a government filing today, and it follows through on a pledge that stems from the broader U.S. EU trade deal announced in July. U.S. officials told the European Union.

last month that they would lower auto tariffs from the current level of 27.5% once the block introduces legislation to cut levies for a range of American products. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, introduced its legislation late last month and has been waiting for the U.S. to lower auto tariffs. And new data from the Commerce Department out today showed that sales of new homes spiked in August, jumping more than 20% from the previous month. That's the highest level since January 2022 and vastly exceeded Wall Street's expectations. Builders piled on discounts and slashed prices to lure buyers. U.S. stocks slipped today as the tech sector pulled back for a second day. Major indexes ended lower. The Dow dropped about 0.4%, and the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both dipped

roughly 0.3%. Tether, which operates the world's largest stable coin, is in talks to raise as much as $20 billion in a funding round. That's according to Bloomberg and the Financial Times. That amount of fundraising would value the crypto company at $500 billion, putting it in a rare company largely inhabited by Mag 7 firms and similarly hot tech operations. One of the biggest retirement savings perks for workers age 50 and older is about to get new restrictions. Starting next year, the extra catch-up contributions that those workers use to stow money in their 401ks will have to go into their accounts after tax for high earners. The Internal Revenue Service issued final rules this month on a 2022 law, which set the threshold for a high earner at more than $145,000 in wages. WSJ Personal Finance reporter Ashley Ebbling is here now with more.

Ashley, can you break down what's new here for us? So one of the biggest retirement benefits is being able to save in a workplace 401K retirement account. Typically, you save on a pre-tax basis, so you get a tax deduction up front, and then when you take the money out in retirement, you have to pay taxes. But there's also a Roth 401K that works the other way. You put in after-tax money and then take the money out later tax-free. So the rule change has to do with catch-up contributions for people 50 and older. The new law restricts the catch-ups to Roth money. So basically people are losing the upfront deduction, and that has some taxpayers mad.

If I'm understanding correctly, this is the first time the government is mandating Roth savings. Is that right? Yeah, so that's a big deal. They're doing it to raise revenue. And there is some fear that everything will be rothified at some point for retirement. On the flip side, for some people, it actually makes sense to put money in on a Roth basis. And I talked to one advisor who said, high earners should take this as an opportunity really to reexamine their investments. But some people might not be able to do catch up contributions at all because of this.

If your 401K doesn't have a Roth option and you're a high earner, you're basically shut out. And who might not be affected by the new rule? If you're a new employee at a new job, it wouldn't apply to you. There's also self-employed people who don't have official W-2 wages for an employer. It wouldn't apply to them either. That was WSJ reporter, Ashley Ebling. Thank you, Ashley. Thanks.

Coming up, what's driving Wall Street's hot job market? And how doctors and policymakers are building a public health universe outside the government. More on those stories after the break. The overall job market in the U.S. may be slowing, but on Wall Street, it's red-hot. A jump in activity has banks like Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and J.P. Morgan Chase, hiring even more staff beyond their strategic expansions in the past year. Even a typical fall season of layoffs has been pushed off. For more on this, I'm joined now by Anna Maria Andriotis, who covers big banks for the Wall Street Journal.

Anna Maria, what's driving this hiring boom? A big pickup in M&A activity as well as with IPOs. Globally, M&A and Equity Capital Markets deal volumes both searched 40% in the summer from a year ago. They're having their best year since 2021, which was a record-setting year. In addition to that, that capital markets activity and lending to companies is also showing signs of picking up.

So altogether, we have entered a period after quite a bit of turbulence where deal-making volume is on the rise. The IPO market this month has been the busiest it has been in years. What we're seeing across the board is a sustained level of a pickup in activity. It sounds like more work equals needing more workers to do it, but are these banks expanding headcount across the board or really only in strategic parts of their organizations? Much of what's playing out right now with hiring is really at the higher level of bankers, specifically senior bankers who come into their new place of employment with high-level contacts at companies where they can essentially execute on deals.

This is about banks seeking to take more market share from each other, and we are talking about pretty much the biggest banks in the investment banking space, and it's really more about that level than the more junior level. terms of the categories. It's spread across several different sectors, including financial institutions. This is notable, given that in the environment we're in, there is a lot of speculation, and we are seeing activity with regards to more bank mergers. How sustainable is this hiring streak for banks? This is the big question. There have been times over the last couple of years where a good quarter or two indicated to bankers that, oh, is the return to 2021 level. upon us only for something to occur, be it a war, be it tariffs or some other macro factor that would just put things on ice. We saw that only a few months ago, right, in the beginning

of April with President Trump's tariff's announcement. We went from what was a very busy time for deals to a few weeks of great uncertainty. Bankers talking about how everything's frozen. So there is optimism right now. Data is looking very strong, but it is a big question of how sustainable is this. That was WSJ reporter, Anna Maria Andriotis. Thanks, Anna Maria. Thank you. Since longtime vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became Health and Human Services Secretary, a growing contingent of doctors and policymakers say they have grown wary of federal health guidance. Now, professional medical societies and state officials are releasing guidelines that

depart from the government stance. Brianna Abbott is a health reporter for the journal and joins me now. Brianna, what is driving this effort? So the Vaccine Integrity Project is a initiative spun out of the University of Minnesota from Dr. Michael Ulsterholm. He is an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert. What he in this group has done is they have reviewed all of the studies. that have come out in the past year or so on things like COVID, flu, RSV shots, and are analyzing it and presenting it to doctors, medical societies, state health officials to sort of fill a role that is normally filled by an advisory panel at the CDC. Are there any limitations to this project? Yes. The Vaccine Integrity Project has said that they are not like a shadow CDC. They are filling a role and their sort of goals to exist for the least. amount of time possible until the CDC can be restored to what they call its sort of previous

level of excellence. The Department of Health and Human Services has said that Secretary Kennedy is restoring sort of gold standard evidence-based science and that some of the folks who are now pushing back on him are the same ones that eroded public trust during the pandemic. The Vaccine Integrity Project, they don't have access to the same data that folks at the CDC have. And another thing is a lot of state and local guidance hinges on recommendations from this federal advisory panel. And so a lot of insurance coverage and who gets access to what vaccines depends on this panel. But you're starting to see some groups even move away from relying on this federal group as their basis for their insurance coverage and recommendations.

That was WSJ reporter, Breonna Abbott. Thank you, Brianna. Thank you for having me. And that's what's news for this Wednesday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Rodney Davis and Pierre Bienname, with supervising producers Jana Heron and Michael Cosmides. I'm Alex O'Sullough for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.