On behalf of The New York Stock Exchange, Robert Glorioso, Chief of Building Engineering Operations, rings The Opening Bell on Thursday, April 16, 2020, in New York, to thank Chefs Ben Udave and Steven Mary from the Sysco team in Los Angeles. The NYSE joins millions of others who stand in awe and gratitude of the way people around the world have responded to the COVID-19 crisis - from medical professionals, to workers who ensure food supply, and those who keep streets safe. They honor some of those people through their #Gratitude campaign. (NYSE Screen Shot/New York Stock Exchange via AP Images)
Stocks are mixed in early trading on Wall Street Thursday after the government reported that millions more workers lost their jobs last week, though not as many as had been feared.
The report was universally regarded as awful, with 5.2 million more Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week as layoffs sweep the country amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Markets had braced for a number that was even more awful. The S&P 500 initially rose but the gains faded after the first half-hour of trading, leaving the index down 0.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose.
Economists had told investors to expect hundreds of thousands more claims, and the number was also a touch lower than the tally of each of the two prior weeks, which were both over 6.6 million.
Treasury yields fell again and remain extremely low, which shows how pessimistic investors are about the economy’s prospects.
Markets are still unsettled following a downdraft Wednesday, when the S&P 500 fell 2.2% following reports on the economy that were worse than investors were expecting, including a record drop for U.S. retail sales last month.
Markets have been stuck in an up-and-down cycle for weeks as traders try to guess how long and how deep the upcoming recession will be.
On one hand, investors see the severe economic damage caused by the pandemic. On the other, optimistic investors are focusing on massive aid for the economy promised by the Federal Reserve and the U.S government. They also point to recent signs that the outbreak may be leveling off in some of the world’s hardest-hit areas, which could open the path to reopening parts of the economy.
Ultimately, many professional investors say they expect the market to remain volatile until the worst of the outbreak passes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 224 points, or 1%, at 23,292 after the first half-hour of trading. The Nasdaq was up 0.6%.
Tech stocks, health care companies and several retailers rose, while banks and energy companies notched more losses.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 1.1%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7% and the FTSE 100 in London added 0.6%.
In Asia, where markets closed before the release of the U.S. jobless report, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.3%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 0.6%, and the Kospi in South Korea slipped 0.1%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 0.60% from 0.64% late Wednesday. Yields fall when bond prices rise. Investors tend to bid up Treasurys when they’re worried about the economy.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
