U.S. Stocks Set To Open Lower As Initial Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Increase

Stocks Look Ready To Continue Yesterday’s Downside Move

S&P 500 futures are losing ground in premarket trading as traders are worried about the future pace of the economic recovery.

Leading tech stocks are also under pressure in the premarket trading session. Tesla is set to continue yesterday’s sell-off as it is already down by more than 3%.

Today, France and Germany reported that business sentiment improved for the fifth month in a row but this news did not provide any material help to global markets as traders remained focused on the second wave of coronavirus.

Initial Jobless Claims Increase To 870,000

U.S. has just provided Initial Jobless Claims and Continuing Jobless Claims reports.

Initial Jobless Claims increased from 866,000 (revised from 860,000) to 870,000 while analysts expected that Initial Jobless Claims would decline to 840,000.

Continuing Jobless Claims declined from 12.75 million (revised from 12.63 million) to 12.58 million compared to analyst consensus of 12.3 million.

The employment reports were materially worse than expected and put additional pressure on S&P 500 futures.

U.S. Dollar Strength Indicates That Investors Are Seriously Worried About The Pace Of Recovery

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the U.S. dollar against a broad basket of currencies, managed to rebound from a low of 91.75 that was reached at the beginning of September to 94.50.

This rebound happened despite the Fed’s pledge to keep the rates at the bottom until the end of 2023. The strength of the current rebound indicates that investors are seriously worried about the perspectives of the world economic recovery.

The Volatility Index, VIX, has also rebounded from lows reached in August. VIX is often called a fear index since it rises when traders are worried about economic perspectives.

U.S. dollar upside has already put significant pressure on commodities. Silver and gold have suffered a sell-off while copper declined from recent highs. Only WTI oil managed to stay near the $40 level thanks to the support from the hurricane season.

If the U.S. dollar continues its upside move, commodities will remain under pressure, and commodity-related stocks will likely decline to lower levels.

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