U.S. stocks ended Friday’s session sharply higher despite Labor Department data showing 20.5 million jobs lost in April, with the unemployment rate rising to 14.7%, underscoring the depth of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the American economy.
How did the benchmarks fare?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.58% gained 455.43 points, or 1.9%, to end at 24,331.32, and the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.04% gained 48.61 points, or 1.7% to finish the session at 2,929.80. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.53% jumped 141.66 points, or 1.6%, to 9,121.32
For the week, the Dow obtained 2.6%, the S&P 500 ended 3.5% higher, while the Nasdaq advanced 6%.
Stock-index futures extend gains in April
U.S. stock-index futures combined to earlier gains after the Labor Department issued a report showing that the U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April. The unemployment rate soared to 14.7%. Nonetheless, the data came in better than expected. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM20, 1.13% rose 241 points, or 1%, to about 24,058, those for the S&P 500 index ESM20, 1.09% gained 27 points, or 1% to trade around 2,907 and Nasdaq-100 futures NQM20, 1.01% were up 73 points, or 0.8%. Job losses came in less than feared, with economists surveyed by MarketWatch expecting 22.1 million jobs lost and 15.2% unemployment.
The investors look over 20 million April job losses
U.S. stocks rose at the start of trade Friday as markets digested a sobering jobs report showing the U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs in April while the unemployment rate soared to 14.7%, though data were better than feared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.58% gained 306 points, or around 1.3% to trade 24,186, the S&P 500 index SPX, -1.04% obtained 31 points, or 1.1% to approximately 2,912 and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.53% advanced 63 points, or 0.7% to roughly 9,042. As economists polled by MarketWatch, jobs data beat forecasts expected 22.1 million people lost their jobs, and an unemployment rate hit 15.2%. Investors were also paying attention to figures showing that 18.1 million lost jobs declared as brief layoffs of workers employers expect to return. Also on traders’ radar were further steps to reorganize pieces of the U.S. economy, after California issued partial guidance for soothing economic restrictions late Thursday.
