Dow ticks up, as jobless report tops 5 million

The Dow added 50 points Thursday morning. The S&P 500 gained 0.6%.

Dow futures were flat earlier in the morning, as the global total of recorded coronavirus cases passed 2 million. 

A bleak U.S. jobs report was released earlier this morning. Roughly 5.2 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total number to over 22 million Americans who have filed in past month. 

President Trump said he plans today to release guidelines for states to begin reopening their economies. 

The Democrats in Congress have reportedly all but quashed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's bill to quickly allocate an additional $350 billion to small businesses. 

U.S. oil prices moved back into the $20 per barrel range on Thursday morning. Despite the announcement last week of the OPEC+ deal to cut global oil productive by 9.7 million barrels a day beginning in May, traders remain worried about the immense decrease in demand, as a result of the virus.