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Stocks Retreat Despite Better-Than-Expected Initial Jobless Claims Report

By:
Vladimir Zernov
Published: Mar 25, 2021, 12:42 UTC

Traders are worried about rising coronavirus cases in Europe, India and Brazil.

U.S. Stock Market

In this article:

Global Markets Are Under Pressure Amid Virus Worries

S&P 500 futures are losing ground in premarket trading as traders are worried about the third wave of the virus in Europe and the worsening situation in Brazil and India.

European markets are down by about 1% today, and their underperformance is putting pressure on global markets. Commodities are moving lower as another wave of the virus may hurt economic recovery and demand for natural resources.

Treasury yields have stabilized after the recent pullback, but it looks like they may move lower in the upcoming trading sessions if demand for safe-haven assets continues to increase amid virus-related worries.

U.S. dollar is one of the main beneficiaries of the current situation, and the U.S. Dollar Index is currently trying to settle above the resistance at 92.70. Not surprisingly, gold and silver are under pressure, so shares of gold and silver miners will likely have a challenging start of today’s trading session.

WTI Oil Pulls Back While Suez Canal Remains Blocked

WTI oil pulled back below the $60 level on fears that rising coronavirus cases in Europe, Brazil and India will put pressure on oil demand.

Yesterday, oil got a major boost after a huge container ship Ever Given blocked Suez Canal in both directions. At this point, it is not clear whether the problem will be solved in the next few days as the giant ship hit the sand on both sides of the channel.

While this is a bullish development for the oil market as oil tankers will likely have to be re-routed around Africa, the market appears to be very concerned with the latest developments on the coronavirus front so oil is under material pressure.

Initial Jobless Claims Decline To 684,000

The U.S. has just released Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Jobless Claims reports. Initial Jobless Claims report indicated that 684,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits in a week compared to analyst consensus of 730,000.

Continuing Jobless Claims declined from 4.13 million to 3.87 million compared to analyst consensus of 4.04 million. Both reports were stronger than expected, but it remains to be seen whether they will be able to provide enough support to the market.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.

About the Author

Vladimir is an independent trader and analyst with over 10 years of experience in the financial markets. He is a specialist in stocks, futures, Forex, indices, and commodities areas using long-term positional trading and swing trading.

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