Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged behind with a modest loss on Wednesday, all three major indices are on track for sizable weekly gains. The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq Composite are up 3.5%, 2.8% and 4%, respectively, since Friday’s close.
US markets will be closed on Friday for the July 4 holiday.
Although traders credited Wednesday’s gains to optimism about a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Thursday’s multiple job reports loom over the holiday weekend.
The monthly employment report, which is closely monitored and due to be released Thursday at 8:30 am, has been difficult to forecast for market watchers. Last month, economists forecast an 8 million job loss in May and the economy gained 2.5 million payrolls instead.
Economists expect about 3 million jobs were created in June as companies rehired workers they let go when the economy closed. Consensus estimates also forecast that the unemployment rate will drop to 12.4% from 13.3% in May.
Meanwhile, weekly unemployment claim data will also be released on Thursday morning.
The weekly claims data will give Wall Street a better idea of how many continue to collect unemployment benefits, a number known as continuing claims. Last week, the Labor Department said there were still about 20 million collecting state unemployment benefits during the week ending June 20.
Another 1.38 million workers are expected to have filed initial claims for state unemployment benefits last week, down from 1.48 million the previous week.
– CNBC’s Patti Domm contributed reporting.
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