Dow down 350 on Friday following a dismal jobs report

Oil prices offset some losses as OPEC plans to meet on Monday

Published: April 3, 2020 9:11am

Updated: April 3, 2020 5:15pm

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday closed the week 350 points down. The decline marked the index's third day of losses this week, and the third negative week in the past four. The S&P 500 lost 1.5%, posting losses similar to the Dow's. 

The market is responding to a bleak March jobs report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday. According to the report, 701,000 U.S. jobs were lost last month, a number that does not reflect the roughly 10 million first-time unemployment claims made in the past two weeks.

The U.S. unemployment rate jumped from 3.5% in February to 4.4% in March.

Oil had a good week as hopes continue to rise that Saudi Arabia and Russia will soon work out their pricing war that has caused a 55% drop in oil prices over the last few weeks. 

President Trump has met with top energy executives to discuss the ongoing collapse of oil prices. On Friday, he called the oil industry a "vital business," reiterating that "we'll work this out and we'll get our energy business back." He added that he is seriously considering moving forward with an infrastructure package.  

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will hold a teleconference on Monday to discuss world oil supplies pertaining to the Russian-Saudi price war, and a lower demand globally due to the pandemic. Russia will be invited to join the meeting “if they wish,” said an OPEC delegate.

 

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