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Investing.com – The Dow capped off a wild week of trading on a sour note Friday, as the worst monthly jobs report since the financial crisis was widely viewed as an eerie signal that deeper economic pain lies ahead as the Covid-19 pandemic intensifies.
The Dow fell 1.69%, or 360 points. The S&P 500 slipped 1.51% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.53%
U.S. nonfarm payrolls fell by 701,000 in March, pushing the unemployment rate up to 4.4%. But the pace of infections in the U.S. showed little sign of abating, raising the prospect of a longer, economically bruising lockdown that will keep businesses shut and accelerate job cuts.
“This is just the start and it will get much, much worse … we could see a further 8-10 million job losses in the subsequent two weeks – we should be braced for a 10-11% reading for April unemployment rate with 15% conceivable for May,” ING said.
That would rival some of the darkest of economic times. The Global Financial Crisis saw unemployment peak at 10%, while the post-war high was 10.8% in 1982, ING added.
The rise in coronavirus cases in the U.S. has exacerbated fears, with infections topping a quarter million and deaths surging above 6,000.
New York state, the epicenter of the outbreak, reported more than 100,000 known cases and 2,935 deaths seen overnight, its biggest one-day rise.
Less than a week after the ink dried on the historic $2 trillion coronavirus fiscal rescue package, investors are eyeing another wave of stimulus.
“The acceleration of the coronavirus demands that we double down on the downpayment we made in CARES by passing a CARES 2 package,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “We must extend and expand this bipartisan legislation to meet the needs of the American people.”
