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Jobless Claims, Standalone Bills and Airline Woes - What's up in Markets

Published 10/08/2020, 06:31 AM
Updated 10/08/2020, 06:34 AM
© Reuters.

By Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com -- President Donald Trump revives hope for some support for the economy ahead of the election, initial jobless claims are set to stay stuck over 800,000, airline results cast fresh light on the industry's woes and Europe's Covid-19 problems just get worse. Here's what you need to know in financial markets on Thursday, October 8th.

1. Trump pivots on stimulus

President Donald Trump signalled a willingness to negotiate piecemeal bills to support the economy, having broken off talks with House Democrats about a comprehensive stimulus package a day earlier.

“If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday night.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi retorted that the President was only interested in sending out checks with his signature on it.

Trump’s pivot effectively strips out the hundreds of billions in aid that the Democrats wanted for state and municipal governments, which they say are needed to deal with the collapse in local tax revenues and the cost of keeping public buildings such as schools open and safe.

2. Jobless claims seen still stuck over 800,000 

The number of people with a direct interest in a stimulus check is likely to remain elevated when this week’s jobless claims numbers are published at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT).

The claims numbers have lost their ability to shock, with no sustained negative reaction to six straight weeks of initial claims between 800,000 and 900,000. This week’s initial claims are expected to have edged down to 820,000, which would represent another post-pandemic low but still run at a level unimaginable before the crisis.  Continuing claims are expected to have fallen to 11.4 million from 11.77 million.

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The only other items of note on the data calendar are the NFIB Small Business Optimism survey and speeches from Federal Reserve officials Thomas Barkin at 2:25 PM ET and Robert Kaplan at 6 PM ET.

3. Stocks set to extend rebound on stimulus hope

U.S. stock markets are indicated to open higher, still supported by hopes of support for the U.S. economy after the administration’s abrupt pivot on Wednesday.

By 6:15 AM ET, Dow 30 futures were up 113 points, or 0.4%, while S&P 500 Futures were up by a similar amount. NASDAQ Futures were up by 0.6%.

Stocks likely to be in focus later include Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), which was urged by activist investor Dan Loeb to cut its dividend and spend the money instead on new content for its streaming channel Disney+. Loeb argued that this would enable it to get a valuation more on a par with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).

There will also be earnings updates from Domino’s Pizza and Helen of Troy.

4. Delta, EasyJet cast light on airlines plight

The most eagerly-awaited update will however come from Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), which will be the first of the major airlines to report numbers for the three months through September.

Trump called on Congress again to help the airline business on Wednesday, against the backdrop of looming mass layoffs. Some 43 airlines have already failed this year, according to data from travel company Cirium. Pelosi has indicated she would consider a standalone bill although it’s not clear what strings she would attach to it.

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In Europe earlier, EasyJet, the continent’s second-biggest airline at the start of the year, said it had made its first ever annual loss, of a cool billion dollars. It expects to fly at only 25% of capacity over the next three months.

5. Europe's Covid numbers spiral higher

The Covid-19 virus is threatening to spiral out of control again in Europe. Countries from France and Spain to the Czech Republic have all posted their biggest ever daily numbers of new infections, while German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he was “very concerned” the sharp rise in infections in the country to over 4,000 yesterday.

“It is possible that we will see more than 10,000 cases a day and that the virus will spread uncontrollably,” Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute, said earlier.

A U.K. minister meanwhile observed that the string of local lockdown measures announced in Britain in recent days weren’t having any visible success in flattening the infection curve.

Latest comments

" . . .needed to deal with the collapse in local tax revenues and the cost of keeping public buildings such as schools open and safe." I live in one of these blue states. I live with the fiscal mismanagement. The level of debt that has piled up has nothing to do whatsoever with the COVID19, China-Virus. The debt has been long established and Pelosi et al., are using this current pandemic as a means to transfer federal funds to shore up the over-extended pension funds which is the result of chronic fiscal mismanagement.
"This week’s initial claims are expected to have edged down to 820,000, which would represent another post-pandemic low but still run at a level unimaginable before the crisis." Post-pandemic low?  Its not "post-pandemic"...last time I looked the pandemic wasn't over yet.
Let's see what Trump's compass is telling us today
I would start banning chinese made products slowly by slowly .
There's no need to ban them - quite simply people need to stop buying the rubbish ******that is made in China and ensure all goods have clear labelling that the item or parts of the item are made in China, then ensure that all retailers and companies supplying other businesses are encouraged to source and supply good alternatives from other countries or, shock horror, their own countries. This will take time, but a lot of investments and big multinationals should have already been moving out of China and into other low cost nations for the past few years anyway - and this should continue at great speed - don't forget China would not be where it is today if it weren't for the willingness of the military industrial complex to do business with dreadful despotic anti democratic countries - and more to the point, our heads stuck in the sand population haven't been happy to buy Chinese tat for the last twenty years - including Apple products! Why are so many US companies investing in China?
   "Our people HAVE been happy to buy from China."  That's the problem!  The people themselves need to get behind a voluntary China boycott.  For the most part they haven't been!  We can't expect government to do it all thru tariffs etc. The majority of our people tend to forget and go for the lowest priced item. But I do agree about the need better product origin labeling requirements.
 indeed, it's a huge problem that most people just go for the lowest price and don't care about the fact that the Chinese Government, which benefits from every sale of every item coming out of China, is a dictatorship on par with the ******party in 30s germany - which was of course also supported by US bankers - they funded both sides - they always do. people in the western world need to wake up to how dreadful the chinese government is - I have not issue with the chinese people, they are either ignorant or terribly repressed to find it difficult to speak out - there is no democracy and anyone who criticises the CCP or Xi himself are in real trouble - as are their familes and friends - it's an Orwellian nightmare - and the US public and banks and major corporations are supporting it for short term profit.
Trying to stop Covid spread is naive. The virus will do it’s job, with or without new lockdowns. Just let it go and let’s manage the consequences.
well at least support people who are at high risk of death to self isolate and secondly provide everyone with Hydroxychloroquine and zinc to lessen the effects and support the immune system to kick it into touch very quickly. This is a proven and effective and safe strategy with both those items being super cheap as well! The only reason they're not being supplied and rolled out across Western nations is because the powers that be want profits to be made by their big pharma sponsors.
People do things every day to prevent illness. They stop smoking, eat healthy and exercise, all of which leads to a reduced chance of contracting illnesses and health related problems. Covid-19 is like any other illness, in some cases it can be prevented, and in cases where it is contracted, the damage can be mitigated. While we may cannot stop the spread, we can certainly slow it down drastically, and allow our medical professionals time to continue to study it, and develop new and effective treatment protocols, to possibly prevent, and certainly mitigate its effects. To say that one cannot do something about the spread of Covid-19, is akin to saying one cannot do anything to help prevent death and injury in automobile accidents by wearing your seatbelt. Science, and just plain old common sense says that you are quite wrong. Our president is proof that just delaying the contraction of this virus alone is beneficial. The treatment he received was not available at the beginning of this.
@ me ish  Hydroxychloroquine unproven and ineffective for Covid!
Quiet, positive market day ahead. Tailwind is strong, though it cannot jump higher in big way every day. One step at a time.
short at key fib level on futures at 28525
We are again in the swamp negotiation. Like with China. The only thing is, like before, Trump likes to be in showcase everyday and tries to blame the other. Of course is used to level up markets with hope and air. Meanwhile people and companies wait resolution and like with China is a standstill situation, he doesn't know how to be break it. Art of the deal is a dis. gr. ace. Nothing will get done.
Trump only wants a cheque to go out to everyone with his name on it just before election day - as if the money has actually come directly from him -and not from taxpayers' funds, which he does not contribute to anyway - because according to him, it's not smart to contribute to public funds for schools, roads, healthcare.
am I the only on who has heard the Democrats repeatedly saying they will not pass a slimmed down version of the stimulus bill? why is anyone thinking the piecemeal options Trump is talking about are going to happen?
wow “If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200),...this is really a good way to fix everything...tax payers paying for political campaigns...
Today we see how apple stock show up it value about 2 trillion $$$ see u guy apple stock
Concern by any nation should be the impact of COVID on the hospital system. With therpeutics coming out and a vaccine imminent, cases are senseless numbers to invoke fear.
there's no imminent vaccine! You've been believing Trump - that disease is getting rarer and rarer.
Another green day .. for no reason
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