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Some say that the worst is yet to come, as last week's figures may fail to show an accurate picture.Wall Street stocks jump despite jobless claims
"It's the tip of the iceberg, and they're going to be ugly. It depends on the speed at which the claims were filed, and the next week will probably be worse," chief economist at Grant Thornton, Diane Swonk, said as cited by CNBC.
Last week, new jobless claims in the US saw the biggest weekly surge in nearly eight years as they hit a two-and-a-half year high of 281,000.
Canada also saw an unprecedented jump in jobless claims. According to government sources cited by various media, 929,000 people (or around five percent of the labor force), applied for unemployment insurance last week.
Key American stock indexes opened higher on Thursday despite fresh jobs data revealing a worse than expected number of unemployment claims which has surged to over three million.Negative US jobs impact global markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 500 points, or over two percent during early trading. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than one percent higher. Thursday's trading marked the third consecutive positive opening for US stocks, which have been on a wild ride in recent weeks.
Negative US jobs data sent European markets down, with stocks in London, Paris and Frankfurt trading nearly one percent lower. Asian markets also fell earlier in the day, with Japan's Nikkei plunging almost five percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing over one percent.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 dropped 1.5 percent in early trade on Thursday, with basic resources tumbling 2.7 percent to lead losses as all sectors and major bourses plunged into negative territory.
Britain's FTSE 100 index shed almost three percent at the opening bell in London. France's CAC 40 is down by 2.4 percent, while Germany's DAX slid 219 points or 2.3 percent.
Asia Pacific markets also stumbled earlier in the day, with Japan's Nikkei closing down by almost five percent.
In Australia where I live a friend told me what she noticed in the city where she lives (a suburb of Melbourne). She said people on the streets are acknowledging each other and simply saying hello; the local supermarket (Woolworths) are reserving the early opening hours of 7am to 8am for the elderly so they can shop at their own pace and get the best pickings; a local school suggested that students write a letter to a neighbour, which resulted in her receiving three heartfelt letters from local kids. The Aussie PM encouraged people to go to local parks and gardens and just be sensible about social distancing.
I read that NY city were considering closing the streets to traffic so the people would have more space.
It seems we are remembering our humanity and cannot deny our underlying connectivity. Hopefully these things will continue long after CV19 has died out.