Breaking: US Initial Jobless Claims skyrocket to 3,283,000

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Initial Claims for unemployment benefits in the US jumped to 3,283,000 for the week ending March 21 from 282,000, the data published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) revealed on Thursday.

"During the week ending March 21, the increase in initial claims are due to the impacts of the COVID-19 virus," noted the DOL in its press release. "Nearly every state providing comments cited the COVID-19 virus impacts. States continued to cite services industries broadly, particularly accommodation and food services."

Follow our live coverage of the US data and the market reaction.

Further details of the report showed that Continuing Jobless Claims for the week ending March 14 rose to its highest level since April 14, 2018, at 1,803,000.

S&P 500 Price Analysis: US stocks trades in 7-day’s highs, strong resistance ahead.

The S&P 500 is pulling back up after suffering one of the sharpest decline in history. While the market is correcting and some investors call for a v-shaped recovery, the S&P 500 will need to clear the 2600/2700 resistance to create a more reliable bottom.

Wall Street opens decisively higher despite record Jobless Claims figures.

After closing the previous two days with strong gains, Wall Street's main indexes opened sharply higher on Thursday as investors seem to have shrugged off the huge leap in weekly Initial Jobless Claims reading.

US Jobless Claims: Off the charts – RBC Economics.

US jobless claims were off the charts at 3.28 million last week. Increase of 3 million from the previous week, nearly 2% of labour force, Josh Nye, a Senior Economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, briefs.

USD Jobless Claims: We are now using millions – BMO.

The first signs of the economic hit from COVID-19 are beginning to be seen from the 'official' data, Jennifer Lee from BMO Economics reports.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

GBP/USD remains offered; bears target 1.3600

GBP/USD now leaves behind part of its recent recovery and revisits the low 1.3600s at the beginning of the week. Indeed, Cable trades with a mild downward bias amid decent gains in the Greenback as investors remain wary of upcoming US data releases and the Jackson Hole event.

EUR/USD remains sidelined above 1.1650

EUR/USD trades on the defensive following the closing bell on Wall Street on Monday, hovering around the 1.1660 region and adding to Friday’s small decline. The pair’s pullback comes in response to an acceptable rebound in the US Dollar in a context of generalised caution ahead of key US data releases and Chair Warsh’s speech in Jackson Hole.

Gold retreats from mid-May highs; fails ahead of $4,700 as Fed risks support USD

Gold touched a fresh high since May 14, during the Asian session on Tuesday, though it struggled to capitalize on the move and failed to break the $4,700 mark. The initial downward push on US bond yields due to the Treasury Department's expanded buyback strategy turned out to be short-lived amid concerns over the growing US national debt, which crossed $40 trillion.

Ethereum: BitMine scoops 32K ETH, hints at further gains

Ethereum (ETH) treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) expanded its digital asset holdings last week with another round of acquisitions. The firm purchased 32,447 ETH during the week, lifting its holdings to 5.847 million ETH. That represents its largest purchase since the first week of July.

Will Jackson Hole ignite Gold and Silver’s next explosive breakout?

The 2026 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium arrives at a pivotal moment. The U.S economy faces record debt, elevated borrowing costs, a weaker dollar and renewed momentum across hard assets. For The Gold & Silver Club, the backdrop increasingly validates its early-year call: “2026 will be the Year of Hard Assets.”

$20 billion offered, $2 billion taken: Why Treasury doubled its buyback cap

The US Treasury moved off its own calendar on Wednesday, and that is the part worth sitting with. At 12:32 GMT, the department said it would at least double the size of liquidity support buyback operations in the 10-year to 20-year and 20-year to 30-year sectors, lifting the maximum from $2 billion per operation to at least $4 billion, effective September 9 and running to November 4.