Pace Of New Jobless Claims Slows Week-Over-Week; Moody's Economist Says There's More To Come

The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to mount. The U.S. Department of Labor reported 11.976 million continuing jobless claims for the week of April 5 on Thursday — far exceeding the previous week’s record of 7.455 million, but well below economists’ consensus estimate of 13.5 million.

Initial jobless claims slowed week-over-week from 6.606 million to 5.245 million, just above economists’ forecast for 5.105 million.

“All of the last decade in job gains will be undone in four weeks, which is a truly stunning statistic,” Deutsche Bank chief economist Torsten Slok told the New York Times. “It tells you the severity of the situation.”

And the distress isn’t likely over yet.

“We’ve got a little more go. We’re probably three-quarters of the way there,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told CNBC about the weekly jobless claims.

Stay-at-home orders have led to furloughs and layoffs, which have led to income reductions, which have hampered American spending.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday the largest month-over-month decline in retail sales in 30 years.

Industrial production has, in turn, suffered its largest slide since 1946, according to the Federal Reserve.