The latest data released by the Department of Labor came in, and the figures weren't too golden.
Just one week ago, another 1.3 million people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time. The number came higher than the 1.25 million expected.
It marks the 16th consecutive week since the number of claims exceeded one million. Overall, for June and part of July, 17.33 million people became unemployed due to the pandemic. At a quarterly level, more than 51 million became jobless.
The highest number of claims came from Florida, Texas, and California, with more than 100,000 each. California is once more the front runner, with more than 200,000 files. Those states happen to be also the most affected by the second wave of infections. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, roughly 3.5 million COVID-19 cases are in the States.
The market didn’t fail to react: USA500 lost 0.8%, while TECH100 slid 1.5% in early trading.
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Sources: forexfactory.com, cnbc.com, finance.yahoo.com