President Trump: ‘American Comeback’ As Jobless Rate Drops To 13.3%
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – The U.S. stock market surged to near-record highs after unemployment dropped unexpectedly in May to 13.3 percent prompting President Donald Trump to cheer as he seeks re-election this year.
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden, Trump said the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures represented the “greatest comeback in American history.”
He suggested that strikingly upbeat May jobs report provided the most definite evidence yet that the U.S. economy headed for a quicker-than-anticipated recovery.
All major stock indexes on Wall Street shot higher on the news Friday. The S&P 500 came near recouping all of its losses for this year so far, after the federal government reported a surprising pickup in hiring in May.
The S&P 500, measuring the performance of 500 large companies, rose more than 2 percent. And the index is now about 1 percent below where it started in turbulent 2020, and some 6 percent away from its high point in February.
Another major Wall Street index, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, closed just short of a record.
Trump said Friday’s jobs report underscored that America would overcome economic turmoil linked to the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest sparked by the recent killing of George Floyd by U.S. police.
“Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country,” Trump said. “This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody.”
Analysts also welcomed the developments after weeks of dire predictions by economists that unemployment in May could hit 20 percent or more.
News that the economy instead added a surprising 2.5 million jobs last month was seen as evidence that the employment collapse most likely bottomed out in April, when the rate reached 14.7%.
“The surprising thing here is the timing. And that it happened as quickly as it did,” added Adam Kamins, senior regional economist at financial intelligence firm Moody’s Analytics.
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