The Soul of Markets
The United States recorded the highest unemployment jump in history when the April record came to 14.7%; March had ended at 4.4%. Interestingly, the DOW, a major stock index in the U.S., did not fall, but closed today, up 1.9%. Of course, one can say that markets have adjusted for the expectant severe unemployment data in many previous trading sessions. Yet, I had expected that 20.5 million people losing their jobs would have triggered a different outcome. It seems head or tail, money men and women in Wall Street win. The dislocation between Main Street and Wall Street seems evident.
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7% in April due to the wave of job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number represents 20.5 million jobs lost in the country and is a dramatic increase from March’s 4.4% unemployment rate, which only captured the very beginning of the economic downturn. April’s rate marks a new record for the post-World War II era — the previous high was 10.8% in 1982. Millions more were also laid off or furloughed in late April after data for the report stopped being collected.
