U.S. Stocks Set To Open Higher After The Release Of U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Report

More Than 5 Million Americans Lost Their Jobs In A Week

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims report showed that 5.25 million of Americans filed for unemployment benefits. Analysts estimated that 5.1 million people lost their jobs, so the report is a bit worse than the estimate.

Yesterday, the U.S. stock market was under pressure after the release of the U.S. Retail Sales data which showed that retail sales in March declined by as much as 8.7%.

While the U.S. Initial Jobless Claims report is disappointing, it remains to be seen whether it will put additional pressure on the market which got accustomed to bad news.

The actual numbers are not that far from analyst estimates, so market participants may decide that the bad news from the report were already priced in.

Currently, S&P 500 futures are pointing to a higher open in premarket trading after the release of the U.S. Initial Jobless Claims report. However, this may change quickly, so traders and investors should expect another volatile session.

Housing Starts Decline By 22.3%

Not surprisingly, the U.S. Housing Starts data showed that Housing Starts declined by 22.3% month-over-month. The decline in Housing Starts will put pressure on various industries in the upcoming months.

While the data looks grim, it is not unexpected, so it’s still possible that the market will be able to ignore it and focus on signs that the world economies will start to gradually re-open in the upcoming weeks.

According to data from Johns Hopkins University, there are 639,664 coronavirus cases in the U.S., while Europe will soon reach 1 million cases. At the same time, the pace of new infections has slowed down, providing hope that governments will start easing virus containment measures.

Oil Prices Are Still In Spotlight

WTI oil prices are hanging around the $20 level as market participants are worried about the unprecedented imbalance between supply and demand.

The survival of the U.S. shale oil industry as at stake, and additional downside in oil may lead to a broader sell-off in the market since oil price downside will put pressure not only on the oil companies but also on their suppliers and the economy as a whole.

At this point, the $20 mark is the key level – in case oil manages to settle below $20, panic selling may follow.