· Oil jump lifts Wall Street as jobless claims data surges
U.S. stocks rallied on Thursday as hopes for a truce in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and a cut in oil output drove gains, taking some sting out of a shocking jump in Americans filing jobless claims due to coronavirus-led lockdowns.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 469.93 points, or 2.24%, to 21,413.44, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 56.4 points, or 2.28%, to 2,526.9 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 126.73 points, or 1.72%, to 7,487.31.
The S&P energy index .SPNY, down by more than 50% this year due to the Russia-Saudi price war and coronavirus-driven demand worries that has caused oil prices to plunge, climbed 9.08%.
Saudi Arabia has called for an emergency meeting of oil producers, while U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected the kingdom and Russia to cut output by as much as 10 million to 15 million barrels a day. That helped U.S. crude CLc1 futures settle up 24.7%, and Brent up 21.5%, their biggest daily percentage gains on record.
· Asia stocks trade higher as oil prices pare gains after record surge
Stocks in Asia traded higher Friday following a record surge in oil prices overnight that saw U.S. crude futures soaring more than 24%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 1.16% while the Topix index was 1.17% higher. South Korea’s Kospi also rose 0.68%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia edged higher in morning trade, with the S&P/ASX 200 up 0.31%.
The moves came after an overnight surge in oil prices, though some of those gains were retraced in the morning of Asian trading hours Friday, with international benchmark Brent crude futures declining 0.94% to $29.66per barrel. U.S. crude futures also fell 4.58% to $24.16 per barrel.
Oil companies in Asia Pacific rose in morning trade on Friday, with Australia’s Santos surging 10.83% while Japan’s Inpex gained 7.05%.
Thursday’s oil price surge came after U.S. President Donald Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen that he spoke to President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and expects them to announce an oil production cut of 10 million to 15 million barrels.
Still, concerns over the economic impact of the global coronavirus pandemic are likely to linger. On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department said U.S. initial jobless claims surged to more than 6 million last week, reaching a new record as coronavirus-related shutdowns roll through the country.
The U.S. labor market “has more or less collapsed in the past two weeks,” Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Joseph Capurso wrote in a note, adding “it is only the beginning because more US states are applying lockdowns.” He said the data indicates the nonfarm payrolls report for April will likely indicate a “large jump in unemployment.”
“Very large falls in US payrolls are coming in the following months, even if tonight’s report is stronger than expectations,” he said, referring to the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for March expected to be released later on Friday stateside.
Reference: CNBC, Reuters
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