The Unemployment Rate Is 15 Percent. Here’s Why The Stock Market Doesn’t Mind.
Nearly one in five American workers have lost their jobs since mid-March. The official unemployment rate in the United States is now 14.7 percent — the highest since the Great Depression — according to Friday’s jobs report. And that figure does not account for the past two weeks of historic job losses; the actual rate is likely closer to 20 percent by now. All across the country, small businesses are folding, while others are taking on onerous debts to survive. Although some parts of the country are relaxing stay-at-home orders and social-distancing guidelines, the coronavirus pandemic remains uncontained. Absent the sudden emergence of a robust testing-and-tracing regime, or effective COVID-19 treatment, or a coronavirus vaccine, the “reopening of the economy” is likely to produce a new wave of infections — and thus, a durable dearth of consumer demand for in-person business and services. And markets are rallying. On Thursday, the tech-heavy NASDAQ Index turned positive on the year, while Dow futures jumped more than 250 points following the Labor Department’s report Friday morning. Read more at New York.
