A grim new record

Kelly Evans's afternoon commentary & top market stories

VIEW IN BROWSER | SUBSCRIBE THU, APR 02, 2020 YOUR AFTERNOON NEWS UPDATE AND MARKET ACTION FROM CNBC AS OF THU, APR 02, 2020 • 12:10 ET DJIA 21312.87 +1.76% +369.36 S&P 500 2518.07 +1.93% +47.57 NASDAQ 7480.35 +1.63% +119.76 EDITOR'S NOTE I wrote last week about how the jobless claims report was about to become the single-worst economic data point in U.S. history. And it was.    But that didn't last long. This morning, the weekly claims data more than doubled to set a sobering new record, with 6.6 million new claims filed. Remember all those charts last week that showed that huge spike in claims? It's going to look even more shocking now. That means about 10 million new unemployment claims have come in during just the past two weeks. There were only about 11 million filed all of last year!    And that 10 million is likely to double or more in the coming weeks, especially now that a broader set of workers--including freelancers and "gig economy" workers--are, for the first time, eligible to claim benefits. It makes Friday's "official" March unemployment report, frankly, pretty irrelevant. The survey week for the report was March 12th. That's ancient history.    But remember, like both Rick Santelli and Steve Liesman have been saying over the past 24 hours: we chose this. We emphatically did not choose to experience the financial crisis a decade ago. The economy then collapsed under its own unsustainable weight. This time, we chose a "sudden stop"--a term typically reserved for commodity-dependent emerging economies--to save hundreds of thousands of souls from perishing from the coronavirus. So yes, the data is going to be really, really bad for awhile.    Bank of America's new projection is that second-quarter GDP will plunge 30% (annualized), the third quarter will be -1%, and we won't get growth again until the fourth quarter. They now see 16 to 20 million job losses and the unemployment rate peaking over 15%. We all saw the St. Louis Fed "guesstimate" of a 32% peak unemployment rate the other day. Larry Summers yesterday on CNBC said he thinks second-quarter GDP could be -50%.    The only good thing about numbers that bad are that it will--hopefully--be hard to get a lot worse from here.    See you at 1 p.m...   Kelly   Kelly Evans Twitter: @KellyCNBC Instagram: @realkellyevans KEY STORIES  US weekly jobless claims double to 6.6 million First-time claims for unemployment insurance had been expected to total 3.1 million, according to economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Shares of China's Luckin Coffee plummet 80% after investigation finds COO fabricated sales Luckin Coffee disclosed that an internal investigation has found that its chief operating officer fabricated 2019 sales by about 2.2 billion yuan. Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: CarMax, Walgreens, Disney, Zoom & more The stocks making the biggest moves in premarket trading include CarMax, Walgreens, Disney, Zoom, and more. Trump tells CNBC he spoke to Putin, MBS and expects Saudis, Russia to announce 10 million barrel cut President Trump told CNBC he expects Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to announce a deal on an oil production cut. Coronavirus live updates: US cases top 217,000, Goldman's David Solomon says US response was 'slow' As of Thursday, more than 951,901 cases of coronavirus have been reported, resulting in at least 48,284 deaths. Oil surges 20% after Trump tells CNBC Saudis, Russia reach production cut agreement Oil prices skyrocketed after President Donald Trump told CNBC Saudis and Russia will ease pressure on oil, ending a price war that has contributed to crude's massive plunge. This map shows which states are seeing the most job losses due to the coronavirus Claims for state unemployment were most concentrated in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington state and Massachusetts. Intruders are hijacking Zoom calls with noise and gross images — here's how to avoid becoming a victim of 'zoombombing' More and more people have witnessed inappropriate content in their video calls on the popular Zoom service in the past two weeks. Zoom has been taking action. These two airlines are 'too big to fail,' investor says Delta and United Airlines are "the two most critical airlines for our country," says Mark Tepper, the president and CEO of Strategic Wealth Partners. Fauci gets security detail after receiving multiple threats, reports say Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an expert serving on President Donald Trump's coronavirus task force, has been assigned a security detail after receiving multiple threats, according to news reports.     IN CASE YOU MISSED IT Investors should look toward tech, health care and financials, says RNC Genter Capital CEO Coronavirus testing database will help inform US response: Dr. Pellini Whiting Petroleum files for bankruptcy as oil prices plummet   Unsubscribe Manage Newsletters Terms of Service Join the CNBC Panel Digital Products Feedback Privacy Policy   © 2020 CNBC LLC. All rights reserved. A property of NBCUniversal. 900 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632 Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes and Market Data and Analysis. Data also provided by THOMSON REUTERS