The Labor Department said 2.12 million unemployed Americans applied for state unemployment benefits in the week ended May 23, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s down from 2.4 million in the prior week. The increase was in line with economists surveyed by MarketWatch. A new federal relief program for self-employed and so-called “gig” workers like

The U.S. economy contracted at an annual 5% pace in the first quarter instead of 4.8%, revised government data show. A downward revision to inventory investment mostly accounted for the downward revision, the Commerce Department said. Looking ahead, economists surveyed by MarketWatch predict GDP will plunge at a 27.7% annual rate as people stayed home

Orders for durable goods tumbled 17.2% in April, the government said Thursday, offering a fresh sign of how the coronavirus crisis has hammered the U.S. economy. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a drop of 18.2%. Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more

J.P. Morgan analyst Samik Chatterjee lifted his price target on Apple Inc.’s stock to $365 from $350 on Thursday, writing of his optimism for the lower-cost iPhone SE’s potential in emerging markets. “Apple has struggled to date to build a material presence in India on account of premium price positioning as well as other drivers,”

Shares of Boeing Co. rallied 4.5% ahead of the Thursday’s, to pace all of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s premarket gainers, after the aerospace giant said it was cutting nearly 7,000 jobs and slowly restarting production of its 737 MAX aircraft, which the company had halted in January. The stock’s implied price gain would add

Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that 125,000 of the 175,000 workers the e-commerce giant hired on a temporary basis will be converted to permanent full-time employees starting in June. Regular full-time roles have a minimum wage of $15 per hour. The workers were brought on board to help Amazon meet coronavirus-related demand, with many planning to

Shares of Under Armour Inc. rallied 2.8% in premarket trading Thursday, after the athletic gear company said expects nearly half of its North America stores to be reopened by the end of this week. Some of the safety protocols the company is taking given the COVID-19 pandemic included reduced store hours to allow more time

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. stock sank 8.1% in Thursday premarket trading after the clothing and accessories retailer reported earnings and sales that missed expectations. Net losses totaled $244.1 million, or $3.90 per share, after a loss of $19.2 million, or 29 cents per share, last year. Adjusted losses of $3.29 per share were below the

Sanderson Farms Inc. reported Thursday a fiscal second-quarter loss that was wider than expected, and sales that surprisingly declined, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sharp drop in boneless chicken breast meat. The fresh and frozen chicken company said net income for the quarter to April 30 fell to $6.1 million, or 28 cents

Shares of Roche Holding AG gained 2.4% in premarket trading on Thursday after the drugmaker said it is testing a combination of its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra with Gilead Sciences Inc.’s remdesivir in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Gilead’s stock was down 0.4%. Roche has previously announced it is studying Actemra in 450 hospitalized COVID-19 patients participating