INSTANT VIEW-Weekly US jobless claims top 6 mln for first time

The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week shot to a record high for a second week in a row - topping 6 million - as more jurisdictions enforced stay-at-home measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic, which economists say has pushed the economy into recession. Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose to 6.65 million in the latest week from an unrevised 3.3 million the previous week, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday.

MARKETS: STOCKS: S&P 500 e-mini futures pared gains and were last up about 0.55%, pointing to firm open for the benchmark index

TREASURIES: Yields slipped: The two-year note yield was last at 0.2216% and the 10-year yield was at 0.5892% DOLLAR: The US dollar index was little changed, up 0.26%

COMMENTS PRIYA MISRA, HEAD OF GLOBAL RATES STRATEGY, TD SECURITIES, NEW YORK “I’m surprised the market is not reacting. We expected to see 4.5 million claims. This number is doubling last week’s. The bad data is being priced in. We know that a large part of the economy is shutting down, so maybe people just expected an outlandish number.” “My fear is that once the unemployment rate starts to go up, it doesn’t retrace quickly because companies go out of business. So now the market is more focused on the length of time the shutdown will last. We’re looking for minus 25% GPD in the second quarter. But it’s the third quarter that matters. We need positive news. When is the peak of the virus?” JOE MANIMBO, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST, WESTERN UNION BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, WASHINGTON

"U.S. jobless claims smashing the previous record has sparked a flight to safety and we're seeing the yen sort of rally against the dollar. You just get the sense that we are in the early stages of the spike in jobless claims and the sky is the limit, at least in the short term." (Compiled by Alden Bentley)