Jobless Claims, Q1 Productivity Hit Multi-Year Levels

Market Overview - Pre-market futures indicate a positive market sentiment with the Dow up 300 points, S&P 500 up 50 points, Nasdaq up 250 points, and Russell 2000 up 25 points, despite less favorable economic reports [1] Employment Data - Initial Jobless Claims were reported at 228K, slightly below the estimated 230K, marking a decrease of 13K from the previous week's revised figure of 241K, indicating stability in the labor market [2] - Continuing Claims reached 1.879 million, consistent with trends over the past six months, although the previous week reported 1.916 million, the first print above 1.9 million since November 2021 [3][4] Productivity and Labor Costs - Q1 U.S. Productivity showed a negative growth of -0.8%, which is 10 basis points lower than expectations, following a +1.5% growth in Q4 2024, marking the first negative print since Q2 2022 [5] - Unit Labor Costs increased by 5.7%, exceeding the expected 5.1%, the highest level since Q3 2020, indicating potential challenges for economic growth [6] Company Earnings Reports - Shopify (SHOP) reported Q1 earnings of $0.25 per share, missing consensus by a penny, while revenues of$2.36 billion exceeded expectations by 1.32%, but shares fell by 7% [7] - ConocoPhillips (COP) surpassed earnings estimates with $2.09 per share and revenues of$17.1 billion, outperforming the previous year's $14.48 billion, leading to a 1.6$3.00 per share, exceeding expectations by 19.5%, with revenues of $937.3 million slightly below year-ago levels, resulting in a 4.7% increase in shares [9]