Wall Street Falls as Jobless Jumps to 6.65mn, Oil Surges 8% in Hopes of Ending Price War

The U.S. stocks were mixed after 6.65 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the week of March 27, beating the economists’ consensus at 3.5 million as the coronavirus outbreak forced companies and factories to whether halt or shutdown, resulting in a layoff.

In the morning session at Wall Street, Dow Jones, S&P500 and Nasdaq were fluctuated, trading slightly higher and lower by less than 0.50%.

As of 20:55 local time in Thailand, Dow Jones dropped 163 points or 0.78% to 20,780 points. S&P 500 lost 0.26% and Nasdaq

However, all three indices were expected to open sharply higher before the announcement of jobless claim.

Despite higher jobless report, oil prices soared 8% in hopes of the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia will end soon, though the demand would not return in recent days due to the outbreak of coronavirus. Brent jumped $1.69/bbl or 6.83% to $26.43/bbl. WTI rose $1.87/bbl or 8.22% to $21.98/bbl.