Dow: What's the deal with recent hiring freezes?

Heard through the grapevine that some departments at Dow have put hiring on hold, or at least slowed it down considerably. My manager was pretty cagey when I asked about backfilling a recently vacated role on our team. Just said 'we're evaluating needs for the next fiscal year.' This comes after all the chatter about 'optimizing our workforce' and 'streamlining operations' that's been circulating. It's making it hard to plan for team growth and project timelines. Is this happening in other parts of the company? Feels like a precursor to something bigger, and not in a good way. Hoping it's just a temporary budget thing, but the lack of clear communication is really fueling the anxiety.