Markets

Breakdown of the latest developments on the global exchanges
Apr 24, 2020, 1:47 PM GMT
#UnemploymentRate

The US Unemployment Claims Exceed 26 Million in Five Weeks

Yesterday the Department of Labor reported that another 4.427 million people have filed for unemployment benefits over the last week, which means that since the coronavirus crisis in the US began five weeks ago, more than 26 million workers have been impacted by the fallout and filed for support.

The findings of the labour market report revealed a sizable drop in the number of layoffs. The Department of Labor recorded 5.237 million claims the previous week, which amounts to a gap of more than 800 thousand individuals.

Nevertheless, the final data exceeded the consensus forecasts, which were projecting a lesser jump in the number of people filing for financial support corresponding to 4.350 million.

US Unemployment Claims

The US labour market continues to be impeded by the national lockdown, which deters normal economic activity. More and more market analysts are now expecting the brewing recession for Q1 2020 to be more significant compared to the Great Depression of nearly a century ago.

Even still, the stock market continues to be demonstrating resilience to the developing situation. This is due to the massive amounts of liquidity that has been pumped into the economy by the Government since the fallout started affecting it.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index has been consolidating in a narrow range above the 38.2 per cent Fibonacci Retracement level at 22554.0, ever since its price action broke out above it on the 6th of April.

And while it is yet uncertain whether the stock market rally would continue going further north because of the Government's fiscal package and FED's looser monetary policy, the market is demonstrating signs of stabilisation.

The ADX applied to the DJI's price action shows that the index currently finds itself in a technical range-trading environment, with the ADX threading below 25 points. This underpins the depreciating levels of adverse volatility in the market, as the initial shock from the massive selloff in early March is now mostly subsided.

The apparent stabilisation in the market, however, is not going to be enough for full economic recovery. Judging by the DJI's price action, it appears as though the market has already priced in the deteriorating labour conditions in the US.

A long-term recovery, on the other hand, would necessitate a robust growth in employment.

DJI 1D Price Chart