“Jobs day” used to refer to the first Friday of every month and the release of Non-Farm Payrolls and the official unemployment rate.
Overview
That may be the case again in May but over the last few weeks, the biggest labor print is now weekly jobless claims every Thursday morning.
Over the prior two weeks, nearly 10 million Americans filed initial claims for unemployment benefit. This morning’s print adds to the gloomy state of affairs. Initial claims last week rose to 6.6M Americans. Continuing claims also soared above 7 million, breaking the previous record of 6+ million at the peak of the economic crisis in 2009. Dire indeed.
The Fed released the minutes of both their normally scheduled meeting and their emergency meeting yesterday. The Fed cut rates at both meetings to our current, historic low. At 10 a.m., Fed President Jerome Powell will be speaking on a webinar hosted by the Brookings Institute this morning.
There is also breaking news from the Federal Reserve this morning.
At the time of writing, we are still digging through the details. But the Fed announced an additional USD$2.3-trillion-worth of loans and programs to help boost the economy. The package includes facilities to loan to municipalities, states as well as corporates. American equities were lower overnight but have recovered as traders absorb the news.
What to Watch Today…
- Fed meeting minutes at 2 p.m.
Complete Economic Calendar can be found here.
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EUR
The Euro has remained in familiar ranges, but trending weakly as the European situation continues to challenge EU leadership over the right course of action to help the continent stabilize. Failing to have come to an agreement on how much to lend or how to implement emergency aid, finance ministers from EU nations will meet again today to work on a solution.
The President of Italy and Spanish legislators are in unison in saying that a failure to reach an adequate cohesive agreement will defeat the purpose of having a European Union. France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire went further saying the lack of action in the midst of crisis has been a “disgrace.”
CAD
Oil prices have shot higher overnight, but commodity-based currencies have yet to take advantage. Indeed, the Canadian Dollar and Norwegian Krone are mostly unchanged versus the U.S. dollar. The OPEC+ cartel is holding another virtual meeting today in an attempt to come to a deal that would cut production and give the price of oil some support. Yesterday, Russia indicated they would be willing to reduce production.
Perhaps currency traders are the smartest of the bunch as we are quick to point out that even if the cartel negotiates a 10 million barrel a day cut (unlikely), the glut of supply will keep oil prices in check. Hence why the Loonie and Krone have been unmoved by the knee-jerk energy rally.
