Thursday’s announcement was enough to outweigh another massive jump in weekly jobless claims.
More than 6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. Economists expected an increase of 5 million. The latest data built on the record-shattering prior two readings of 6.6 million and 3.3 million.
The latest unemployment data and the Fed’s announcement came after a surge in the stock market that took place on Wednesday. The rally was fueled in part by Sen. Bernie Sanders dropping out of the presidential race, as well as hopes that the coronavirus outbreak may soon turn a corner.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 gained more than 3% on Wednesday. The Nasdaq jumped 2.6%. Wednesday’s rally put the S&P 500 and Dow up more than 10% each for the week while the Nasdaq was up 9.7%.
But some believe that stocks are now getting ahead of themselves and investors should exercise caution.
