NEW YORK: A week packed with US economic data is likely to provide investors with more evidence of the extent to which the coronavirus pandemic has hit growth, sharpening the debate on whether a rebound in stocks has been justified amid an unprecedented slowdown.
The parade of April data kicked off on Friday, when the Labor Department reported the US economy lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs that month, the steepest plunge in payrolls since the Great Depression. Though bleak, that number was smaller than analysts’ expectations of 22 million jobs lost.Two key data points next week include retail sales and industrial production, due on Friday, May 15.
US stocks have rallied even as Citigroup’s US economic surprise index, which measures whether key economic indicators are coming in above or below forecasts, has tumbled to multi-year lows. Big gains in technology and communications stocks led the Nasdaq Composite to erase all its year-to-date losses on Thursday. Rebounds in beaten-down sectors like energy have helped push the S&P higher in recent days.
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