Home Wall Street Close: US benchmarks prefer Fed’s boost over Jobless Claims, DJI30 rise to one-month top
FXStreet News

Wall Street Close: US benchmarks prefer Fed’s boost over Jobless Claims, DJI30 rise to one-month top

  • Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by about 285 points, or 1.22%, at 23,719.
  • The S&P 500 index ended up 1.45% at 2,790.
  • The Nasdaq Composite Index closed 0.77% better-off to 8,154. 

With the Fed’s surprise announcement of aids for mid-sized businesses surprising markets, over the already anticipated higher figures of the US Jobless Claims, the US equity benchmarks managed to post another positive closing before the long weekend including the Good Friday. Also affecting the market’s mood were comments from the Fed Chair Jerome Powell who cited fears of a slowdown in the first quarter while also expecting a recovery in the second half.

That said, the US equity benchmarks preferred cheering the upbeat news suggesting additional stimulus while paying a little heed to the negatives that are in fashion ever since the coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken the driver’s seat. Consequently, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by about 285 points, or 1.22%, at 23,719, the S&P 500 index ended up 1.45% at 2,790 and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed 0.77% better-off to 8,154.

Other than the US catalysts, the much-awaited meeting of the global oil producers, including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, mostly known as OPEC+, also offered wild moves to the markets, especially to oil. The initial talks of an agreement on 20 million barrels per day of reduction in the output got defied with 10 million barrels per day of production cuts for two months starting from May. As a result, the black gold failed to hold onto the early-day gains while settling around $23.00 at the end of Thursday’s close.

Furthermore, the US Michigan Consumer Sentiment dropped to the eight-year low of 71 whereas Jobless Claims crossed 5,250K forecast with 6,606K while upwardly revising the previous to 6,867K from initially report figures of 6,648K.

Amid all these, there was a ray of hope as the UK PM Johnson moves out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and helped markets to take a sigh of relief before the Easter break.

While also portraying the market sentiment, the US 10-year treasury yields dropped four basis points to 0.729% by the end of Thursday.

Although most markets are close for Friday, the US is up for releasing March month inflation data that might have a wild reaction amid a lack of liquidity.

 

FX Street

FX Street

FXStreet is the leading independent portal dedicated to the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market. It was launched in 2000 and the portal has always been proud of their unyielding commitment to provide objective and unbiased information, to enable their users to take better and more confident decisions.