Americans displaced by the coronavirus crisis filed unemployment claims in record numbers last week, with the Labor Department reporting Thursday a surge to 3.28 million. The number shatters the Great Recession peak of 665,000 in March 2009 and the all-time mark of 695,000 in October 1982. The previous week, which reflected the period before the worst of the coronavirus hit, was 282,000, which was higher than expected at the time. Consensus estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones showed an expectation for 1.5 million new claims, though individual forecasts on Wall Street had been anticipating a much higher number. The surge comes amid a crippling slowdown brought on by the coronavirus crisis.

The four-week moving average, which smooths out weekly distortions, was 1,731,000, an increase of 27,500 from the previous week's revised average. Despite the news being even worse than expected, the maj or stock indexes opened more than 2% higher, wiping ut what had been sharp earlier losses. "This was way bigger than we thought and the market's still moving higher," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab. "That's a very encouraging sign that we may be in a bottoming process."

An economic shutdown