© Reuters.
Investing.com – Markets were turned upside down after unemployment data gave the US Federal Reserve confidence that the US economy is recovering despite rising inflation, signaling a move away from recession as the US market improves work.
After the release of the unemployment data, US markets began to bargain today, Thursday with a collective and violent decline, while the losses of the yellow metal and oil widened, coinciding with a sharp increase in the dollar index, which seemed to have come back to life.
Markets were eagerly awaiting the unemployment data, especially after the wave of layoffs that swept through tech companies Amazon (NASDAQ:), Twitter and Meta Facebook (NASDAQ:).
St. Louis Fed Chairman James Bullard said interest rates have not reached effectively binding territory, indicating the need for more rate hikes.
Wall Street
It fell by more than 250 points, or 0.8%, to 33,310 points.
Technology stocks fell 1.3%, or the equivalent of 150 points, to reach 11035 points.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost about 45 points to 3915 points, or 1.1%.
gold
Gold deepened its losses on the day, lowering futures contracts more than $15, or 0.85%, to levels near $1,760.
And spot contracts for US dollar gold fell $15.5 to levels below $1760, a decline of 0.9%.
oil
Losses in oil were exacerbated, by more than 2%, as U.S. Nymex light crude oil fell 2.2%, to a level near $83, down $1.8.
Benchmark crude fell in the $1.5 range to levels near $91.2, a decline of 1.5% during these trading moments on Thursday.
The dollar is going up
It was spurred on by renewed hopes that the Fed would continue to be hawkish after worries about slowing labor markets and slowing inflation had been allayed.
The major dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.7%, reaching levels near 107 points during these trading moments on Thursday.
The 10-year yield increased to levels close to 3.8%, up 0.0889 points during trading on Thursday.
Unemployment data
The number of jobless claims in the US has declined over the past week, meaning that layoffs from businesses are still low.
Data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 222,000 in the week ending Nov. 12.
This went against expectations that indicated a drop to 225,000 claims, and with the previous week’s level revised by an increase of 1,000 claims to 225,000.
On the other hand, in the last four weeks the average number of unemployment claims has risen from the average of the previous week, revised upwards, to 219,000, to reach 221,000.
