Just too much potentially market-moving news this morning. I count three stories in that category and it’s only noon. But let’s begin.
6.61 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment in the week ended April 4, the Labor Department reported this morning. That brought the three week total–after the prior weeks total was revised up to 6.87 million–to 16.8 million. The median forecast among economists called for 5.5 million new claims in this past week.
The three-week total implies an unemployment rate approaching 15%. That’s up from 3.5% in February. Both the likely unemployment rate and the speed of the downturn are stunning
California reported the most initial claims last week at 925,000. Michigan was next at 385,000, then New York with 345,000, and Texas with 314,000. Florida had 170,000 new claims. Both Texas and Florida had major problems in processing new claims last week–which suggests that next week’s total will be equally horrendous.
The hospitality sector—hotels, restaurants and amusement parks—took the steepest losses. For the week that ended March 28, California reported 872,000 workers from service industries filed for unemployment.
