[New York Close] Dow Recovers to 20,000... Oil Prices Rise 23%

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The US New York stock market succeeded in rising on the 19th (local time), with the Dow Jones Industrial Average returning to the 20,000-point level.

On that day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 20,087.19, up 188.27 points (0.95%) from the previous day, the S&P 500 index rose 11.29 points (0.47%) to 2,409.39, and the Nasdaq index increased by 160.73 points (2.30%) to 7,150.58.

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) provided momentum for the rebound by announcing additional market stabilization measures. The Fed stated that it had signed currency swap agreements with the central banks of nine countries, including Korea, on that day.

Despite the Fed's measures, the dollar value surged again. In the New York foreign exchange market that day, the dollar index, which shows the value of the dollar against six major currencies, approached 103. This is the highest level in three years.

The Fed also announced that it would support money market funds (MMF) to stabilize the short-term financial market.

The sharp rebound in oil prices, recovering from a 24.4% plunge the previous day, also encouraged the stock market rise that day. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for April delivery closed at $25.22 per barrel, up 23.8% ($4.85). Major foreign news agencies reported this as the highest increase ever recorded.

Due to concerns about the US economic downturn, the 10-year US Treasury yield in the New York bond market fell nearly 0.14 percentage points to around 1.12. Bond yields move inversely to bond prices.

On that day, the US Department of Labor announced that the number of initial jobless claims last week increased by 70,000 from the previous week to 281,000 (seasonally adjusted). This is the highest level since September 2017 and significantly exceeded the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 220,000. If this week's statistics reflecting the massive layoffs caused by COVID-19 are included, the economic impact on the US is expected to be confirmed numerically.

Gold prices rose slightly. April delivery gold on the New York Commodity Exchange closed at $1,479.30 per ounce, up 0.1% ($1.40) from the previous day.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.