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Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Thursday, May 21st

Published 05/21/2020, 06:13 AM
Updated 05/21/2020, 06:15 AM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse  

Investing.com -- President Trump has continued his verbal onslaught against the Chinese regime, and President Xi in particular, inflating concerns about a potential trade war and hitting stocks as a result. Oil is on a record run, while the Covid-19 virus hits five million victims. And this is all before the latest release of the weekly jobless claims data. Here's what you need to know in financial markets on Thursday, May 21st.

1. Trump doubles down on China criticism

U.S. President Donald Trump showed no signs of easing back on his criticism of China, launching another stinging attack on its handling of the pandemic overnight, blaming Beijing for "mass worldwide killing."

In a series of tweets, he accused China of spreading “pain and carnage” around the world, and appeared to single out President Xi Jinping personally in saying that “it all comes from the top.”

While these attacks could be seen as being politically motivated, in offering up a scapegoat for the American electorate to blame for their economic hardship ahead of November’s presidential election, they are also fuelling concerns that the trade deal agreed last year between the two sides could crumble.

2. Virus tops five million

The number of people infected worldwide has now reached five million, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

The grim milestone has been reached less than two weeks after the world hit the four million mark.

The number of deaths caused by the virus currently stands at over 328,000.

While a number of European countries and U.S. states are starting to scale back their social distancing measures, the pandemic has picked up speed in other parts of the world. 

The World Health Organization warned that the coronavirus pandemic is a long way from being over,  stating Wednesday the number of newly reported coronavirus cases worldwide hit a daily record this week with more than 100,000 new cases over the last 24 hours.

3. Stocks set to sell off

U.S. stock markets are set to open lower, amid concerns that the escalating Sino-U.S. tensions could lead to further trade disruptions.

By 6:30 AM ET (1030 GMT), the Dow Jones 30 futures contract was down 154 points or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 futures contract was down 0.6% and the Nasdaq 100 futures contract was down 0.6%.

In focus later will be Ford (NYSE:F), after the car manufacturer had to shut down two separate factories because employees tested positive for Covid-19. Both plants - one in Chicago and the other in Dearborn, Michigan - restarted only on Monday after suspending production for about two months because of health concerns.

AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) will be watched after it said it had concluded the first agreements for at least 400 million doses of the University of Oxford's Covid-19 vaccine and has secured total manufacturing capacity for one billion doses so far and will begin first deliveries in September 2020.

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) is set to continue the retail sector reporting season, offering up its quarterly earnings before the open.

4. Jobless claims on the data slate

Investors will focus on the weekly jobless claims figure, at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT), with economists looking for a dip from last week, but a slight one as companies are still forced to shed jobs.

Claims for first-time unemployment benefits are expected to come in at 2.4 million, compared with nearly 3 million the week before, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com. Continuing claims are expected to have risen to nearly 24.8 million.

The economic data released earlier Thursday was downbeat. 

In Asia, Japan’s trade data showed exports in April plunging 21.9% as compared with a year earlier, while a trade report from South Korea, a bellwether for global commerce, showed exports may be set to drop more than 20% in May for a second month.

The news from Europe was slightly more positive, showing economies crawling off the floor. The composite PMIs from both Germany and France rose in May from record lows the month before, but both measures remained in contraction territory.

5. Oil on record positive run 

Oil prices have continued to push higher, heading for a sixth consecutive day of gains - the longest positive run in 15 months - after the U.S. government’s official data confirmed a drop in crude stockpiles.

EIA data showed Wednesday a draw of 4.98 million barrels last week, the most since December. This was very similar to the American Petroleum Institute estimate that crude stocks fell by 4.8 million barrels last week – the first decline since March and the biggest one since January.

Crude has risen more than 80% this month as production cuts have kicked in and demand has started to return. 

 

Latest comments

Avg age of death from covid 19 in china was 80 in italy age 79 in us lokely the same but hippa not allowing data. 0-3 pediatric deaths is vs annual inffuenza deaths in us averages 150 ithat implies the virus less virulent than flu as pedi pop has immature imune systems Are you going to shut down workd economy every flu pandemic now? As an md ive never seen as skewed reporting of disease Press acting like its polio enola and bubonic plague
When are we getting the new phone ID and Passports. Confirm via Face scan and Fingerprint iD at airports etc.
Do what's been time-tested to work for billions of real people and their families, real lives, not what some may theorize...true for politics, the markets, and religion.
*I only put religion 3rd on my list bc this board is about markets and politics, but religion has the best long-term track record for families; I'm Catholic so I know that's worked amazingly well for myself and my family, but Christianity in general has a 2000+ year history with mountains of solid evidence of it's authenticity, if no proof strictly speaking...incl. miracles witnessed by thousands of people over those 2000+ years, countless martyrs willing to give their lives in excruciatingly painful ways, etc.
Come on guys, sell all your stock, is the time to let DOW in reality
...so we can buy them up at bargain prices! ;)
Do what you think is right. Doing what feels good, whats convenient, whats easy - that how little kids think. Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way- which is why things are so screwed up.
How to get rich: Whatever you're thinking, do the opposite.
Trump will get reelected. USA will have another 25 good years. After that ...
Yeah 2 greatest actors of our time Donald the duck and winnie the pooh
Dont divert, the point is Flippy Donald is a huge disaster in handling the pandemic, as the death toll goes through the roof. God bless America.
CCP leader handled it well to spread to the world !
God Bless China!
Sure, be fair, a total disaster of such, especially of Flippy Donald still has a right and complete authority to misinform and fool the world to fake his innocence, right? Amen.
The world reaction to COVID has gone too far. Compare to the Spanish flu in 1918 which got around %30 world population affected and over 50 million dead, the impact of COVID is pretty much nothing. Its damage is similar to a seasonal flu virus. When American soldiers brought the H1N1 influenza A virus to Europe at the world war I, it actually helped us to win the war.
The reason the "damage is similar to a season flu virus" is because of containment measures... you cannot deny that lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders have significantly reduced the number of interactions and therefore the number of covid-19 infected or dead people.
You and anyone that makes another flu comparison is a fool. The “Spanish Flu” started in Oklahoma and mutated into a deadly strain over time, it took 3 years to get to 50M and both my healthy young farmer great granparents died on the same day after contracting the mutated “flu” while attending a parade for returning WW1 soldiers. Please do us all a favor and shut up about things you know nothing about.
 not even Trump is using the lame "this is just like the flu" line anymore
We need a leader not an Egoist.
your leader is in china
Your leader is in china
What's wrong Ego Waffles? They go good with syrup.
Less negative isolationist sabre rattling and more positive economic cooperation will solve covid and avert a global recession.
He's not gay. He just has a mancrush on Trump.
Or else his smile is disingenuous.
Is watch your back around that guy Mr. President.
Why? Did Mr Prsident steal something?
What amazes me is that we are still reacting to news in such dramatic fashion.  We know where we are, we know the down turn, we know the consequences of the lock down but the market reacts each day like it is the first time it has heard about any of this.  Grow up guys.
Looks exactly like Winnie the Pooh
China gets a pass for labor laws, environmental laws, free speech why should they be held accountable for the virus that came out of the lab in wuhan?
US INTRODUCED COVID 19 TO CHINA IN RESPONSE TO TRADE WAR.
Chad, a little off the subject, but I do believe the U.S. should ban consumable products from China. We get a lot of food from China. Smithfield meats are processed there. I threw out my Wal-Mart vitamins made there. I've wondered for years if the grains we import from China are laced with chemicals that are inducing the obesity in the U.S. Wipe us out over a period of time with Diabetes and heart disease.
 "if the grains we import from China are laced with chemicals that are inducing the obesity in the U.S." ----- urrr, the Chinese didn't make Americans fat, Americans stuffing themselves with food are the ones made Americans fat.....or do you blame China for Trump's extra weight and bad fake tan too?
opinions don't make experts just know it all negative individuals
Trump probably using cover for the election. Blame vs tarrifs are different. Any sign the market tumbles he’ll stop. He cant afford the markets selling off
What is even more significant and nobody is talking about it seems is that Credit Insurers like Eula-Hermes believe an avalanche of bankruptcies. The only reason it has not happened so far in the US is the lockdown and the inability to deal with this from an administrative point of view. Millions of Jobs are gone. It will take years to recover from this. Not a few months.
Expect more bad things from China.....from past experiences.
such an empty blanket statement.
yeah
165 days to Trump getting kicked out hopefully. Are Americans letting trump off the hook again for not pressing for his tax returns? those tax returns of his are full of fraud into all directions, yet nobody mentions the need to get those returns under public scrutiny. Are Americans the lemmings that trump can lead over the edge?
They are almost certainly full of 100% avoidance and 0% evasion. As they should be.
I accidentally downvoted this while scrolling lol. Yes we are lemmings. I feel like these past 4+ years of watching Trump do his thing to America has pulled the wool from my eyes on how emotions, not logic, is the basis of all decision making for everyone (Trumper or anti-Trumper alike).
What are the tax returns going to change? The democrats are desperate to make something stick, they just need to drop all this *******with trump and do what they were elected to do.
👍👍👍
Why hasn’t Trump started to blame the Democratic party led states which contributed the most of Covid 19 positive cases as his campaign strategy? At least the stock market won’t go down as he also cares so much?
Because Cuomo is nice to him.
"While these attacks could be seen as being politically motivated, in offering up a scapegoat for the American electorate to blame for their economic hardship ahead of November’s presidential election...."  --  no kidding
Unbiased reporting.
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