By Rodrigo Campos and Tom Wilson
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - A Wall Street rally powered global gains in stocks on Thursday despite a record number of new unemployment filings in the United States, as traders focused on the unanimous passage of a $2 trillion (1.7 trillion pounds) coronavirus relief bill in the U.S. Senate and the possibility that there is more stimulus to come.
The legislation is intended to flood the country with cash in a bid to stem the crushing impact the epidemic has already had on the world's largest economy. Nearly 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits over the past week, eclipsing the previous record of 695,000 set in 1982. The bill is heading for the House of Representatives for a vote on Friday.
"In less than two weeks, we have moved from full employment to a number of job destruction we have never experienced in a period of peace," wrote Christopher Dembik, head of macro analysis at Saxo Bank.
Earlier on Thursday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. economy is likely in recession already but that reopening businesses should be dictated by the control of the virus' spread, in contrast to the urging by some of President Donald Trump’s advisers for a faster reopening. The president himself has said he wants the economy to be “roaring” by Easter, in a little over two weeks.
Mnuchin said the central bank would lend "aggressively" to ensure the economy can withstand the sudden sharp drop in activity, with an expected $424 billion commitment from the U.S. Treasury to cover any losses, allowing the Fed to unleash perhaps $4 trillion for credit to "Main Street."
The astronomical number of jobless filings left some wondering if the stimulus package, despite its size, would be enough.
"If these numbers continue for three or four weeks, there will be demand for more fiscal support," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) in Newark, New Jersey.
She said the stock market reaction would suggest "that market participants expect a larger stimulus package or fiscal package from the government than the $2 trillion that has been agreed upon."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 1,115.19 points, or 5.26%, to 22,315.74, the S&P 500 (SPX) gained 118.5 points, or 4.79%, to 2,594.06 and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) added 303.84 points, or 4.11%, to 7,688.13.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (STOXX) rose 0.66% and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe (MIWD00000PUS) gained 3.56%.
Global markets have lost about a quarter of their value in the last six weeks of virus-driven selling.
While markets have found a measure of sustenance as governments and central banks launch unprecedented support measures, investors have struggled to work out how bad the coronavirus impact would be.
"No-one is sure how long things are going to be locked down for, how wide the virus will spread in the U.S., what the death toll and hit on the economy will look like," said Salman Baig, portfolio manager at Unigestion.
The combination of the massive jobless claims and stimulus dragged the dollar lower.
The dollar index (=USD) fell 1.222%, with the euro (EUR=) up 1.19% to $1.101.
The Japanese yen strengthened 1.52% versus the greenback at 109.57 per dollar, while Sterling
“Although the latest Fed measures have helped calm markets, as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues and the world economy is effectively in lockdown, we would expect markets to remain in turmoil,” foreign exchange analysts at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) said in a report on Thursday.
The softer greenback buoyed emerging market currencies, with MSCI's index (MIEM00000CUS) touching a one-week high.
Oil fell as fears of plunging demand outweighed expectations of support from the U.S. stimulus.
U.S. crude (CLc1) recently fell 4.08% to $23.49 per barrel and Brent (LCOc1) was recently at $27.16, down 0.84% on the day.
Prices on U.S. Treasury bonds rose but yields traded relatively tightly and within the week's range, suggesting the market had already priced in expectations for abysmal data.
Benchmark 10-year notes (US10YT=RR) last rose 14/32 in price to yield 0.8128%, from 0.856% late on Wednesday. The 30-year bond (US30YT=RR) last rose 43/32 in price to yield 1.37%, from 1.421% late on Wednesday.
