U.S. Stocks Mixed After Encouraging Continuing Jobless Claims Report
U.S. Continuing Jobless Claims Report Is Better Than Expected
S&P 500 futures are swinging between gains and losses as traders digest a flurry of economic reports.
U.S. Initial Jobless Claims report showed that 2.1 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in a week, in line with analyst estimates.
Continuing Jobless Claims were much lower than expected at 21 million. This means that many people who have previously filed for unemployment benefits have found new jobs.
First-quarter GDP Growth Rate was -5% compared to analyst consensus of -4.8%. Obviously, second-quarter numbers will look much worse as the economy was hit by virus containment measures.
Durable Goods Orders declined by 17.2% month-over-month in April compared to analyst consensus which called for a decline of 19%.
China Approves Hong Kong Security Law
U.S. – China relations are once again in focus as China’s parliament has approved a new security law for the city.
U.S. has already stated that Hong Kong no longer qualified for special treatment under the U.S. law after this move. This creates significant uncertainty for the city’s future as an international financial center.
Currently, there are two main unknown catalysts – the potential U.S. sanctions on China and China’s response in case such sanctions are implemented.
U.S. – China tensions have steadily increased over the last few weeks but the stock market was able to ingore them. It remains to be seen whether any U.S. sanctions on China could hurt the current upside trend in the U.S. stock market.
Oil Inventories Increase Again
Oil is set for a volatile trading session as the API Crude Oil Stock Change report showed that oil inventories increased by 8.7 million barrels per day.
The oil market will be waiting for confirmation of this data in the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status report which is scheduled to be released today after the market open.
The recent oil rally was a material contributor to the upside of S&P 500 so additional downside on the oil price front could hurt the momentum of the U.S. stock market.
For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar.
This article was originally posted on FX Empire
