EDITOR'S NOTE
The worst economic data of our lives and yet the stock market rallies.
Friday's nonfarm payrolls report showed 20.5 million jobs lost in April and an unemployment rate of 14.7%. Stocks rallied sharply and finished the week with impressive gains.
These horrific numbers were expected, but it's still been an astonishing response, and CNBC's Pippa Stevens explains the paradox. 
The market is betting the staggering job losses are temporary, and indeed, 78% of unemployed workers describe their plight this way. Still, there's no guarantee that they will all be needed back as businesses reopen, writes CNBC's Patti Domm.
There's also the ongoing risk of a second wave of coronavirus infections, notes Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.
"It just feels like this rapid reopening of businesses across the country is asking for trouble,” he said. “If we have another round of the virus, this is going to go down as a depression not a recession because we’re going to be down double-digit employment for a long time.”
Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world. TOP NEWS
TOP VIDEO
CNBC PRO
SPECIAL REPORTS
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
