Thursday's Stock Market Open: US Equities Open Higher Despite Another Huge Round Of Jobless Claims

Update: 12:05 p.m. EDT:

U.S. stocks remained higher on noon trading on Thursday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 287.48 points to 23,763.30, while the S&P 500 rose 28.43 points to 2,827.74 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 89.35 points to 8,584.73.

In Europe markets finished higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 0.97%, France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.89% and Germany’s DAX rose 0.95%.

Crude oil futures surged 29.1% at $17.79 per barrel, Brent crude gained 9.43% at $22.29.

Original story:

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday as investors weighed higher oil prices and a new round of massive jobless claims.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 86.23 points to 23,562.05, while the S&P 500 rose 10.26 points to 2,809.57 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 28.61 points to 8,523.99.

The Labor Department said some 4.4 million Americans filed for jobless claims last week, bringing to 26.4 million the total over the past five weeks. The total number of job losses now surpasses the number of jobs that were created since the great recession. The state of Florida saw filings double from the previous week to 324,718.

“We’re likely seeing the peak in [jobless] claims as people get back to work,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. “Again, the pace at which they will [get back to work] is the question.”

Analysts worry that even after the pandemic passes, companies may be slow to hire unless demand ticks up.

“The duration is really the key, to see how quickly we can put those on temporary layoff or furlough back on the payrolls,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab.

Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton tweeted: “Hard for employers to call back workers in most social of industries and succeed for any length of time given the ongoing contagion of the virus and need for social distancing.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he expects most of the U.S. economy to restart by the end of August.

The House will meet on Thursday to mull passing another round of financial aid for small businesses.

In Europe, the services Purchasing Managers Index plunged in April -- Germany dropping to 15.9 and in France to 10.4. For eurozone as a whole the figure dropped to record low of 11.7.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trader IG, said European markets were unfazed by the dire PMI data.

“What is… confusing perhaps is the way markets seem to have taken today’s incredible readings in their stride, or at least in a relatively calm fashion,” he said. “In London and in continental Europe, energy stocks are leading the charge higher, recording solid gains in the opening part of the session.”

Lakshman Achuthan, co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, warned the coronavirus pandemic will hurt the U.S. economy worse than the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

“This is a brutal recession,” he said on Wednesday. “This recession is extraordinarily deep. Already, you’ve got 22 million people filing for jobless claims compared to 8.7 million jobs lost during the Great Recession. The diffusion of weakness across the economy... spreads like wildfire. This recession is certainly very severe. It’s affecting pretty much all industries.”

But Achuthan added the recovery should be fairly quick.

“This recession could end up being among the shortest on record,” he said. “Just a partial re-opening of the economy would lift activity off the extreme lows.”

Overnight in Asia, markets were mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.19%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.35% and Japan’s Nikkei-225 gained 1.52%.

In Europe markets traded modestly higher, as Britain’s FTSE-100 gained 0.25%, France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.39% and Germany’s DAX rose 0.11%.

Crude oil futures surged 20.25% at $16.57 per barrel, Brent crude gained 9.28% at $22.26. Gold futures edged up 0.35%.

The euro edged down 0.27% at $1.0796 while the pound sterling rose 0.06% at $1.2342.