Jobless Claims Jump But So Do Stocks

Friends

As expected the weekly jobless claims number spiked. More than 3 million people applied for unemployment benefits this week, a number that is even bigger than expected. The good news might be that at least the system was able to file that many applications. Despite the shocking, but not unexpected number, stocks rallied and were able to hold on to their gains throughout the trading session.

For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1351 points to close at 22,552. The S&P 500 was up 154 points to close at 2,630. Gold was up $4 to trade at $1,637 per ounce, while oil was down $1.56 to trade at $22.93 per barrel WTI.

So we now have a 3 day rally going. Have we seen the bottom? Is the damage done? Well, us old guys usually like to see the recent lows tested once or twice and hold before we are comfortable that the worst is behind us. But, things don’t usually work like that anymore. We very well could have seen the worst on Monday, and stocks might move higher from here, or we may have another leg down that blows through the previous lows. No one knows, of course, and we’ll just take this thing one day at a time. In areas like New York the virus news is still getting worse. But, on the medical front we are hearing better and better things about treatment drugs, some that appear to be working at least on some folks. So, let’s stay focused and we’ll see how the week ends tomorrow.

Have a nice evening everyone.