• Stocks sink as over 30 million Americans file for unemployment

    Stocks sink as over 30 million Americans file for unemployment

    US stocks slid Thursday as Wall Street winced at new data showing the coronavirus crisis has put more than 30 million Americans out of work in just six weeks. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped as much as 378.26 points, or 1.5 percent, to 24,255.60 in early trading after the US Department of Labor said …
  • 3.8 million more Americans file for unemployment in wake of pandemic

    3.8 million more Americans file for unemployment in wake of pandemic

    More than 3.8 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, meaning the coronavirus crisis has sidelined more than 30 million workers, new federal data show. That means 18.6 percent of the nation’s workforce — more people than the entire state of Texas — tried to collect unemployment checks in the last six weeks as …
  • US economy takes biggest hit since Great Recession, falling at 4.8 percent rate

    US economy takes biggest hit since Great Recession, falling at 4.8 percent rate

    The US economy suffered its fastest contraction since the Great Recession as the coronavirus crisis put the country under lockdown, new federal data show. The nation’s gross domestic product — the value of all goods and services produced here — decreased by an annual rate of 4.8 percent in the first three months of the …
  • Consumer confidence at lowest point in 6 years amid joblessness

    Consumer confidence at lowest point in 6 years amid joblessness

    US consumer confidence plunged in April as millions lost their jobs and there was an unprecedented deterioration of an index that monitors their attitudes about current business and work conditions. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its confidence index tumbled to a reading of 86.9, the lowest level in nearly six years and down from …
  • Job-offering scammers could be after your stimulus money

    Job-offering scammers could be after your stimulus money

    With over 20 million having recently lost work, scammers could swallow lots of stimulus checks. They tell you that there’s a wonderful job waiting for you. Just fill out a form and send money. Often there’s no real job. Phony offers snag thousands, regulators and employment pros warn. “These scams are everywhere. Job scams are …
  • Stocks climb as oil prices rebound, jobless claims surge

    Stocks climb as oil prices rebound, jobless claims surge

    US stocks ticked up Thursday as rising oil prices helped Wall Street shrug off another surge in Americans filing for unemployment benefits. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed as much as 227.85 points, or 0.9 percent, in early trading despite the US Labor Department reporting 4.4 million initial jobless claims last week, bringing the number …
  • 4.4 Million Americans Filed for Unemployment Last Week, Bringing Coronavirus Jobless Claims to over 26 Million

    4.4 Million Americans Filed for Unemployment Last Week, Bringing Coronavirus Jobless Claims to over 26 Million

    More than four million Americans filed for unemployment last week, according to statistics released Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department. The total number of jobless Americans has increased by 26.5 million, almost 16 percent of the country’s labor force, since businesses began shuttering in mind-March to stem the spread of the coronavirus. In five weeks, …
  • Coronavirus puts 4.4 million more out of work, bringing crisis total to 26 million

    Coronavirus puts 4.4 million more out of work, bringing crisis total to 26 million

    The number of Americans put out of work by the coronavirus crisis grew to 26.4 million last week as another 4.4 million people applied for unemployment benefits, new federal data show. That suggests the pandemic has more than wiped out the 22.1 million jobs the US economy had added since October 2010, when the nation …
  • New York seeks $4B loan from US to cover unemployment tab

    New York seeks $4B loan from US to cover unemployment tab

    New York has applied for a $4 billion federal loan to help cover the ballooning cost of unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus crisis, officials said. The Empire State could use the interest-free line of credit from the federal Unemployment Trust Fund to pay for unemployment insurance benefits as needed over time, a state official said …
  • Is unemployment really as deadly as coronavirus?

    Is unemployment really as deadly as coronavirus?

    In the 2015 movie “The Big Short” about the Great Recession, Brad Pitt’s character Ben Rickert is strolling in Las Vegas with two Wall Street colleagues who are elated about all the money they made betting that the US economy was in trouble. Their bet, of course, was that problems with mortgage-backed securities would hurt …