Wall Street opens higher, struggles to gather momentum

• Wall Street’s main indexes pare opening gains, turn mixed on Friday.
• S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Index rises sharply while financial shares underperform.

Major equity indexes in the US started the last day of the week in the positive territory but struggled to push higher as investors continue to assess the impact of the measures taken by the Fed on the financial markets. As of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were both down around 1% while the Nasdaq Composite was adding 0.8%.

Risk sentiment struggles to recover

Although the Fed’s reestablishment of USD swap lines to lessen strains in funding markets seems to have eased concerns over USD shortage, investors are still worried about a long-lasting global recession amid worldwide lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Earlier in the day, the initial jobless claims in the state of Ohio jumped to 139,000 from 4,800 in the previous week as the state has started to allow residents to apply for unemployment benefits if advised to stay at home. Experts expect jobless claims figures to surge in the coming weeks.

Among the 11-major S&P 500 sectors, the Consumer Discretionary Index is up 1.2% as the best performer while the Materials Index and the Financials Index are both erasing around 3%.