U.S. stocks increased at opening Thursday following a report showing a historic increase in claims for unemployment benefits, as investors were prepared to hear the worst and hoped that many of the losses would be temporary.
“It is reasonable to expect that some, perhaps many, but not all, of these jobs will come back,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, in response to the jobless claims.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened 2.17% higher.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite also opened up, 1.65% and 1.53%, respectively.
Workers claiming new unemployment benefits soared last week to 3.3 million, the Labor Department reported Thursday, as the coronavirus forced employers to lay off staff.
Despite the historically bad news, investors saw the huge increase in jobless claims coming. Morgan Stanley projected a spike in claims of 3.4 million.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell appeared on NBC’s Today show before the markets opened and said that the central bank would not “run out of ammunition” in helping the economy recover from the virus.
There is also movement in Congress to blunt the impact of the virus on the economy. The Senate late Wednesday approved a $2 trillion relief package by a 96-0 vote. The House is expected to take up and pass the measure Friday.
