U.S. stock futures jumped after a surge in the price of oil, a financial market which has collapsed this year and raised concerns about hefty losses for the energy industry.
Futures for Dow Jones Industrials hiked 388 points, or 1.9%, early Wednesday to 21,128.
Futures for the S&P 500 moved forward 43.25 points, or 1.8%, at 2,492.50
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite added 118.75 points, on 1.6%, to 7,557.50.
Thursday brought news from the U.S. Labor Department that weekly jobless claims total 6.6 million.
Economists expected another four million to five million workers filed for jobless claims last week as coronavirus-related shutdowns roll through the country. The estimates ranged as high as nine million.
But WTI crude jumped 10% to back above $22 a barrel on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he expects Saudi Arabia and Russia to come to an agreement about their price war that has added to the pain for the crude market, already getting hit by an unprecedented demand slowdown from the coronavirus.
Energy stocks were among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading. Shares of Exxon Mobil and Chevron each gained more than 6%. Occidental Petroleum and Apache jumped more than 10%.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday he is closing all New York City playgrounds and said that the state's model projects a high death rate through July. He also said cases in New York state now total more than 83,000.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 retreated 1.4%, while Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index advanced 0.8%.
Oil prices gained $2.13 to $22.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $22.00 to $1,613.40 U.S. an ounce.
Source: Baystreet US Market Commentary
(April 2, 2020 - 8:35 AM EDT)
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