On Friday, as expected, the US jobs reports released horrific numbers.
20.5 million jobs lost in April on top of 701K jobs lost in March, versus 22.4 million gained since 2009
by comparison, 8.7 million jobs were lost over 18 months during the "Great Recession" of 2008-9
The previous record loss was 2 million, set in 1945 the month after the US demobilized from WW II
The unemployment rate jumped from the recent low of 3.5% in February, to 4.4% in March, to 14.7% in April
Previous post war record was 10.8% in 1984, 10.1% in 2009
"True" unemployment rate is actually closer to 20%
May unemployment could read as high as 25%
Despite what is undeniably bad news for average Americans, US stocks have well recovered from the March 23rd low, up 30.9% in 5 weeks, which is about 4 years of return under normal circumstances. The S&P 500 is still down 9.3% from the start of the year, but the Nasdaq is actually UP 1.7% on the year - how can that make any sense?
We hosted a webinar Sunday night, May 10th at 6 PM EST to discuss the disconnect between economic performance and stock market performance.
David Edwards of Heron Wealth spoke on:
The progression of the Coronavirus Pandemic
The prospects for stocks over the next 6 months
Some good news: how client families are making the best of a bad situation