Thursday's session was pretty rocky for stocks, but in the end the broader market pushed higher from Wednesday's sell-off. Investors took into account the recent domestic economic data that shows the underpinnings of a recession as well as more positive relations from countries taking part in the "oil war."
The U.S. Department of Labor reported a grim new reality in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic as new jobless claims for the week ending March 28 doubled the week previous, posting over 6 million new claims. Adding to the bleak unemployment rate, experts believe that this isn't even the peak of the jobless rate that America is going to see during the coronavirus outbreak as the last states issue stay-at-home orders to their residents. This unprecedented impact on the domestic economy has no rule book, for normal recessions take time for unemployment to peak.
Here's how the market closed after Thursday's session:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +2.28% or +56.40 points to 2,526.90
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +2.24% or +469.93 points to 21,413.44
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +1.72% or +126.73 points to 7,487.31
In Major Stock News, leading energy stocks like Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) soared under oil's rally Thursday. The U.S. listing for the Chinese coffee stock Luckin Coffee (NASDAQ: LK) fell dramatically after an internal investigation revealed that its COO had lied about the company's number of sales in 2019. Walgreens's (NASDAQ: WBA) CFO reported that the pharmacy personal needs retailer's sales were lower in the last week of March as more consumers remain indoors.
In Stock Sector News, all sectors were bolstered up by the market rally with Energy leading with a performance gain of +9.07%. The rest of the gains are as follows: Utilities +3.15%, Consumer Staples +2.89%, Health Care +2.79%, Financials +2.47%, Information Technology +2.28%, Communication Services +1.82%, Materials +1.50%, Industrials +1.46%, Real Estate +1.34% and Consumer Discretionary +0.35%.
In Commodity and Currency News, crude prices staged a rally on Thursday after President Donald Trump tweeted: "Just spoke to my friend MBS (Crown Prince) of Saudi Arabia, who spoke with President Putin of Russia, & I expect & hope that they will be cutting back approximately 10 Million Barrels, and maybe substantially more which, if it happened, will be GREAT for the oil & gas industry!" West Texas Intermediate (NYSE: USO) shot up over 17% and Brent Crude (NYSE: BNO) soared +16.84%, raising barrel prices between $24-$30 each. Gold (NYSE: GLD) also continues to spike, with the metal's price increasing +1.21% on Thursday. Gold's price per ounce still hovers around $1,600. Finally, the U.S. Dollar (NYSE: UUP) gained some strength in current markets, with the DXY Index climbing +0.62%.