The Dow Futures have experienced volatility to a great extent over the last few days. First, it took a hit during the Trump-Biden first presidential debate, later the news of President Trump contracting coronavirus left the stock market discomposed. The September jobs report revealed that only 661,000 increase occurred in the nonfarm payrolls against the 800,000 Dow Jones estimate.
The Dow Futures fell by 240 points or 0.87% while media and tech shares dropped as well. However, followed by the hours full of volatility, the stock market had covered its losses by the open.
It was also speculated that the news of President Trump testing positive with COVID-19 would influence the passage of the stimulus deal by Congress sooner than expected. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also commented on the topic while staying optimistic about striking a deal.
The Dow Futures crashed by 500 points when President Trump confirmed his coronavirus diagnosis. The market recovered ahead of the open when Dow Futures recovered by 100 points or around 1.5%.
The Department of Labor, DOL, pointed out that job opportunities increased in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, health care and social assistance, and professional and business services. The government sector showed a disappointing performance as employment declined over the month. Moreover, these numbers didn’t include the number of layoffs announced last month by renowned companies like Disney.
Disney alone had reported its plan to let go of 28,000 workers at its U.S parks. According to the monthly report released by the global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, layoffs announced by U.S employers have increased by 2.6% in September as compared to August.
“We are setting new records for job cuts even though things have improved since the earliest days of the pandemic,” said the firm’s senior VP, Andrew Challenger. “These are uncertain times for everyone, as many states are experiencing an uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases. It is clear we still have a long way to go before many industries can return to normal.”
The major sector that downsized was the entertainment and leisure sector which increased job cuts by 86% in September than in August. This year recorded the highest job cuts as layoffs increased by 348% in comparison to the same time last year.
While it stands true that the unemployment rate has declined by 7.9%, reducing the number of unemployed people by 1 million, the rate still stands higher than the pre-COVID rate in February that was as low as 4.4%.
I am Sophia william, author of World Stock Market. I have a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and I have worked as a reporter for several news websites. I have a passion for writing and informing people about the latest news and events happening in the world. I strive to be accurate and unbiased in my reporting, and I hope to provide readers with valuable information that they can use to make informed decisions.
