European markets traded higher Thursday as investors digested the latest U.S. jobless data amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 climbed more than 1% during afternoon deals, with travel and leisure stocks jumping 3% to lead gains as all sectors traded in positive territory.
Jobless claims in the U.S. continued to surge amid the coronavirus shutdown, with 6.6 million Americans filing first-time unemployment claims in the week ended April 4, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Economists were expecting an increase of 5 million after the record-shattering prior two readings of 6.6 million and 3.3 million. Economists forecast that the unemployment rate will jump into the teens this month, from March’s 4.4% level and the 3.5% in February.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Thursday in overnight trading. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 35 points, pointing to an opening dip of about 111 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures also pointed to slightly lower Thursday opens for the two indexes.
Biggest movers
Cinema chain Cineworld gained more than 23% in afternoon trade to lead the Stoxx 600, while British business outsourcing giant Capita was up almost 15%.
British housebuilder Redrow jumped 8% after securing approval for the Bank of England’s coronavirus emergency financing scheme on Thursday.
At the other end of the European blue chip index, engineering firm Subsea 7 was 5% lower, while Germany’s Delivery Hero dropped 4.4%.
— CNBC’s Eustance Huang and Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.
