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(Reuters) – U.S. stock indices are rising on Thursday as US jobless claims fell for the third week in a row, giving hope that the hardest blow to the job market due to the coronavirus pandemic was over.
The number of applications for unemployment benefits in the US over the past week fell to 4.43 million from a revised 5.24 million a week earlier.
Despite the decline, the rate is still very high, and the total number of calls over the past five weeks has reached 26 million.
“The decrease in the number of initial applications for benefits is encouraging, but the damage has already been done as unemployment hit a record in the (previous) week,” said Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics.
Meanwhile, the PMI index, which reflects activity in the services sector of the US economy, according to preliminary estimates, in April fell to a minimum in history, while the indicator of activity in the manufacturing sector dropped to its lowest level since 2009.
The index by 18:45 Moscow time increased by 1.04% to 23.720.65 points, the S&P 500 – by 0.94% to 2.825.61 points, – by 1.02% to 8.581.69 points.
The energy sector grew by 3% amid recovery in oil prices.
Retailer Target Corp (NYSE 🙂 said it recorded a sharp increase in online sales in March and April, which offset the decline in sales in regular stores. However, the company’s shares fell 2.3%, as profitability remains under pressure.
The price of Las Vegas Sands Corp securities rose 11% after the company predicted a quick recovery in Asia due to pent-up demand.
(Shreyashi Sanyal and Si Nivedita. Translated by Vladimir Sadykov. Edited by Anastasia Teterevleva)
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