Earlier in the day, the US initial jobless claims showed that in the last week, 5.245 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. That brings the four-week total to 22.025 million, which is over ten times the prior worst four-week period in the last 50-plus years.
Moreover, the Philly Fed joined the rest of the regional Fed surveys in an utter bloodbath. Against expectations of a -32.0 print, Philly Fed crashed to -56.6 - the lowest since 1980 and the most significant 2-month drop in history.
US equities rallied after the numbers, as usual, with the Nasdaq 100 index being the strongest.
Oil was also trading higher today and the WTI benchmark was trying to settle above the 20 USD threshold.