US stocks were higher yesterday with the NASDAQ higher for the fourth straight day.  The NASDAQ is now positive on the year after suffering steep losses in March.

The US Economy Lost 20.5 million in April and the unemployment rate rose to 14.7%, both post-World War II records.  Economists had been expecting a loss of 21.5 million jobs and the unemployment rate to surge to 16%.  The “real” unemployment rate, which includes workers not looking for jobs and the underemployed, surged to 22.8%.

Shares of Uber are sharply lower after the company announced a quarterly loss of nearly $3 billion, including a write-down of more than $2 billion related to its investments in Asian partners.  The only bright spot in the company’s earnings report was the growth they saw in their Uber eats division.

The 112-year-old storied luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the first department store chain to do so and the second major retailer to be toppled by the coronavirus pandemic.  This follows the bankruptcy filing by J Crew on Monday. Experts believe there will be more to come even as there are moves to reopen businesses in parts of the country like Texas and Florida.
 
With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, I’m Tyler Simones