Markets Live Recap: Unemployment in Focus Today

This morning, U.S. weekly jobless claims came in at 4.4 million.

Just over 26 million Americans have now applied for unemployment... in the last five weeks.

That means the U.S. economy has wiped out all the job gains since the Great Recession.

Unemployment sits at 23%, and it doesn't look like we're close to reopening the economy anytime soon.

Despite that, investors shrugged off the news, bidding up the S&P 500 about 1.7% to start the day.

But stocks turned over mid-day and closed about flat.

Here's what our experts - Chris Johnson, Tom Gentile, D.R. Barton, Jr., and Shah Gilani - saw in the financial markets today, April 23...

Chris Johnson (8:45 a.m. EDT)

  • Chris is bullish on:
    • Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) - the gold standard for cloud services companies that's enabling remote working for many businesses.
    • Shopify Inc. (NYSE: SHOP) - dominating online shopping sales.
    • Digital Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: DLR) - top REIT to buy now because it specializes in data centers.
    • Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ: ETSY) - online sales are increasing faster than analyst estimates.
    • Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) - this top health insurer has ample cash on hand to come out of the pandemic in good shape.
    • Newmont Corp. (NYSE: NEM) - more profitable as gold continues increasing.
  • He's neutral on Domino's Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) after earnings because it didn't blow away analyst expectations.
  • And he's bearish on CSX Corp. (NASDAQ: CSX) because he thinks the smart money will sell the stock off after it moved to the upside post-earnings.

Tom Gentile (11 a.m. EDT)

  • Tom has an update on his prediction for gold:
    • In previous streams, when gold was trading for around $1,500 per ounce, Tom predicted it would hit $2,000. Today, with gold trading for $1,750 - halfway to his prediction - Tom now thinks we could see $3,000 per ounce gold in the not so distant future.
    • That's because, as central banks around the world continue printing fiat money to try to solve the many problems they have, the value of gold should continue to rise since it's limited in supply.
  • Speaking of limited supply, Tom thinks the halving in Bitcoin's supply in May will also drive it significantly higher.
    • As long as demand remains the same and half the amount of new Bitcoin is issued over the next four years until the next halving, Tom expects the price will rise considerably.
  • Tom put together a gift for his live stream viewers today.
    • It's packed with valuable, timely information on NFLX, SPY, TLT, FXE, and USO.
    • Get it completely free, here.
  • In case you missed Tom's live stream, you can catch the entire video on YouTube below.

D.R. Barton, Jr. (1:30 p.m. EDT)

  • D.R. thinks the market was up through the first half of trading today because the 4.4 million new Americans filing for unemployment was an improvement compared to past weeks.
    • But that doesn't take away from the fact that we are still losing jobs at a record pace. And the longer the economy remains closed, the harder it will be to bring back jobs.
  • D.R. explained that the market moved lower mid-day because Gilead Sciences Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GILD) new drug, Remdesivir, did not prove effective in treating coronavirus in early trials in China.

Shah Gilani (3:45 p.m. EDT)

  • Shah answered questions from live stream viewers today:
    • He thinks that the futures market has "broken" United States Oil Fund ETF (NYSEARCA: USO) in the short term. But it could fix itself if oil continues rise back to "normal" levels.
    • If you're a new investor, Shah said it's always a great time to get into the market because it's one of the best ways to generate long-term wealth. But if you're doing so today, make sure to start small.

Catch us tomorrow - starting LIVE again at 8:45 a.m. EDT with Chris Johnson, right here.

If you missed our live streams today, you can now replay them on our YouTube channel, here.

Got a question you want our experts to cover? Send us a note.

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