In early May, the Wall Street Journal published a critical study showing the effect of unemployment claims and job loss across the board. The United States Department of Labor claims that the tens of millions of unemployment claims filed are a true record in the country’s history, matched with a record number of jobs lost.
The Coronavirus is forcing businesses to close and causing jobs to be lost, sending more people running to the unemployment office (virtually, of course) than ever before. This surely has to take a toll on the financial capital of the economy.
So, what does this look like for Wall Street? How are the big corporations and publicly-shared conglomerates faring after such a record-breaking dip in employment? The stocks are certainly turning into something unpredictable, this is for certain.
Assessing the Current Volatility
The stock market has seen volatile day-to-day changes, especially in the larger areas of gas prices and oil trades. With the U.S. Department of Labor seeing millions of new unemployment claims per week, stocks respond by plummeting lower.
We are dealing with the worst employment numbers in history, and it’s been a struggle, to say the least, to accurately predict stock behaviors from one week to the next.
Want just a taste of the numbers? Well, let’s put it this way: the Dow Jones dropped over 1,500 points in a week.
The State of Unemployment
Surprisingly, as jobs continue to be lost, the number of new unemployment claims is actually in a decline. There are currently over 36 million unemployed Americans as a result of COVID-19, with more layoffs to come.
Even those in the healthcare and hospital industries are having to lay off some of their employees.
With any huge wave of job loss like this, it certainly reflects a dynamic change in trading prospects for the near future. However, general investor confidence is still up. This means that while the massive loss of jobs has definitely contributed to a dip in the stock market, general trading habits and prospects aren’t changed as much as one might expect. For more info like this, you should check out wall street mastermind by sam shiah.
The Weeks Ahead
The New York Stock Exchange plans to open after Memorial Day after a record closing time. Investors and stockbrokers will be allowed to roam the building in carefully maintained areas and will be required to wear face masks.
Homeowners with federal government mortgages may get their mortgage payments skipped for any amount of time between one month and one year. This is also true in some cases for Americans with auto insurance, health insurance, and rental payments. These individuals are still encouraged to pay when they can, though, because it will help revitalize the economy from the ground up.
These small measures can help move the economy into a more manageable state again. As the world slowly inches back to life, investors are keeping their spirits high and continuing to engage in trades on Wall Street. The re-opening of the NYSE will be the true indicator of success, helping us understand what hopes we have of recovering from this record-breaking financial crisis.
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