US Stock Market Overview – Stocks Trade Mixed, Led up by Energy; Jobless Claims Surge

US stocks were mixed on Thursday, initially moving higher but the Nasdaq slid into the close finishing in the red. Sectors were mixed led up by energy which rallied in tandem with crude oil. Utilities and real-estate were the worst-performing sectors. Oil prices nearly doubled in a 2-day period before easing into the close. The price action this week was one that will live in infamy as the US crude oil May contract dropped to -37 per barrel. US demand of gasoline has dropped a whopping 40% year over year according to a recent report from the Department of Energy. Eli Lilly expects to begin human testing as soon as next month for an experimental COVID-19 treatment that uses antibodies. The only economic news was that initial jobless claims rose by 4.4 million, which was the 3^rd largest increase in history, but was down 800K from the prior week. The VIX volatility index moved lower and continues to hover just above 40%. Recall, a VIX near 40% implies a daily move in the S&P 500 index by 2.5%. Historically this is a big number.

US Jobless Claims Rise in Line with Expectations

Initial Jobless claim continued to rise at a historical rate with 4.4 million new individuals filing initial unemployment insurance claims, bringing the total of the past five weeks to 26.4 million according to the Labor Department. The number represented a decline of 810,000 from the previous week. Expectations were for jobless claims to rise by 4.3 million.

Demand for Gasoline Slides

The US Energy Department reported this week that total for refined energy products during the past month averaged 15.0 million barrels a day, down by 25.4% from the same period last year. During the past month gasoline demand in the US averaged 5.5 million barrels a day, down by 41.4% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel, which includes diesel fuel, demand averaged 3.4 million barrels a day over the past four weeks, down by 9.8% from the same period last year. Jet fuel demnad was down 53.6% compared with the same four-week period last year.