US Markets end higher as investors focus on stimulus

27 Mar 2020 Evaluate

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, with Dow and the S&P 500 settling higher for the third straight day, as investors focused on Senate passage of a $2 trillion stimulus package. The rally on markets came even though the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits soared last week, as large swaths of the US economy were shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims skyrocketed to 3,283,000 in the week ended March 21, an increase of 3,001,000 from the previous week's revised level of 282,000. Street had expected jobless claims to spike to about 1.5 million from the 281,000 originally reported for the previous week. While the increase in unemployment claims is staggering, economists noted the data may still underestimate the number of new claims due to constraints on the capacity of offices to process claims.

Meanwhile, a report released by the Commerce Department showed the increase in US gross domestic product in the fourth quarter was unrevised from the previous estimate. The Commerce Department said GDP increased by 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter, unchanged from the estimate provided last month and in line with economist estimates. The unrevised growth came as an upward revision to consumer spending was largely offset by downward revisions to federal government spending and non-residential fixed investment. GDP growth in the fourth quarter was unchanged from the third quarter, as a downturn in imports and an acceleration in government spending were offset by a larger decrease in private inventory investment and a slowdown in consumer spending.

Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1,351.62 points or 6.38 percent to 22,552.17, Nasdaq rose 413.24 points or 5.6 percent to 7,797.54 and S&P 500 was up by 154.51 points or 6.24 percent to 2,630.07.

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