Last night’s report on initial jobless claims from the United States was better than expected. The numbers came just under the 4500k forecast, showing that the US labor market is likely not going to take any more hard hits, after three consecutive record highs in employment.
The House of Representatives approved the Senate stimulus bill that would unlock almost $500 billion of extra funding to help businesses make it through the pandemic. In addition, the government is now preparing to consider a plan to offer financial aid to oil companies. This week the US oil took a hard hit as the May futures crashed below zero due to the country running out of storage space for oil.
Eurozone countries, on the other hand, are still failing to find a compromise and decide on a plan to escape the financial crisis that the pandemic will result in. As previously discussed, the countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 outbreak want more aggressive measures, but powerhouses like Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands insist on a safer, more conservative approach.
Due to the lack of a clear plan to save the eurozone from the crisis, the euro has weakened against other currencies.
Moreover, the S&P will publish updated ratings of the United Kingdom’s and Italy’s debt today. If Italy’s score is demoted to junk status, this could hit the euro further.
Another alarming piece of news today is that the new cases of Covid-19 in Spain appear to be increasing again, which could mean that the country still has not reached the peak, despite previous reports that it has.
Lastly, oil prices have stayed around $16 for the WTI brand and $21 for the Brent crude this week due to many brokers temporarily disabling oil trading after Monday’s crash.
