The daily business briefing: May 22, 2020

More than 2.4 million Americans file new jobless claims, John Krasinski sells Some Good News to ViacomCBS, and more

John Krasinski in NYC
(Image credit: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

1. 2.4 million file new jobless claims

More than 2.4 million Americans filed for jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The new applications brought the total number of new unemployment claims to 38.6 million since the coronavirus crisis hit the U.S. two months ago, roughly equal to the total initial claims filed during the Great Recession. The pace of the filings, down from nearly 2.7 million the previous week, has slowed as states begin gradually reopening their economies after weeks of stay-at-home orders. U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down by 0.4 percent, as rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China stoked concerns about the prospects of an economic rebound.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.