US Stocks Slip As Unemployment Tops 30m

While risk-off selling pulled all three major US stock averages into the red, the S&P 500 and the Dow posted their largest monthly percentage gains since January 1987, with the Nasdaq having its best month since June 2000.

The three indices remain well within 20 per cent of record highs reached in February, having quickly rebounded since shutdown efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic brought the economy to a grinding halt.

The five-week tally of unemployment claims topped 30 million and consumer spending has plummeted, according to the latest round of dismal indicators providing another snapshot of the crushing economic effects of the widespread shutdown.

"We've had a tremendous run but we've had the worst economic data since the Great Depression," said Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. "Business and earnings might not be snapping back as quickly as the v-shaped recovery on Wall Street would imply."

The Federal Reserved announced that it would broaden its "Main Street Lending Programme" by lowering the minimum loan size and expanding eligibility.

"Wall Street is liking all the programmes that the government and the Fed are putting together," Nolte added. "So Wall Street is doing fine but Main Street is going to be a longer process."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.17 per cent, to 24,346, the S&P 500 lost 0.92 per cent, to 2,912 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.28 per cent, to 8,890. (Reuters)