The daily business briefing: June 19, 2020

1. Jobless claims fall but remain above 1 million for 13th week

About 1.5 million people filed initial applications for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The figure exceeded economists' projections of 1.3 million new jobless claims, but marked the 11th consecutive week of declines since the job losses peaked in mid-March after widespread coronavirus lockdowns hit. Still it was the 13th straight week with jobless filings exceeding 1 million. Before the coronavirus crisis, the weekly record was 695,000, set in a 1982 recession. Claims for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for self-employed workers ineligible for standard unemployment benefits added 760,000 to the total. "It's a sustained hemorrhaging of jobs unlike anything we've seen," said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank.

The New York Times

2. Facebook pulls Trump campaign ads over symbol used by Nazis

Facebook on Thursday removed ads from President Trump's campaign because they contained an upside-down red triangle that closely resembled a symbol Nazis used to identify political prisoners in World War II concentration camps. "We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate," a Facebook spokesperson said. "Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group's symbol ... without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol." The ads appealed for donations and petition signatures to help fight anti-fascist activists, and the Trump campaign said the symbol is "widely used by antifa." It noted that there is a similar-looking emoji. The Anti-Defamation League said the symbol in the ads was "practically identical to that used by the Nazi regime to classify political prisoners in concentration camp."

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CNN The Washington Post

3. Stock futures rise despite concerns about jobs data

U.S. stock index futures rose early Friday after closing mixed on Thursday as investors digested disappointing unemployment data and record increases in coronavirus cases reported by several states. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq were all up by nearly 1 percent several hours before the opening bell. All three of the main U.S. indexes fluctuated most of the day on Thursday after the Labor Department reported 1.5 million initial jobless claims last week, exceeding a Dow Jones estimate of 1.3 million. That news came as Texas, California, Arizona, and Florida reported their highest one-day increases in confirmed coronavirus cases, underscoring concerns about continuing economic fallout from the pandemic.

CNBC

4. Companies observe Juneteenth in support for anti-racism protests

Activists plan to mark Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States, with continuing protests against racial injustice on Friday. Following more than two weeks of demonstrations against police brutality touched off by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, numerous major companies, including Twitter, Nike, and the NFL, have made June 19 a paid holiday for their employees for the first time. Support is rising for proposals in Congress to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. The celebration commemorates the day in 1865 when a Union general officially informed people still enslaved in Texas, despite the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, that they were free.

The Washington Post USA Today

5. Mortgage rates hit record low for 4th time this year

Mortgage rates fell to a new all-time low this week, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 3.13 percent in the week ending June 18, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The decline, down eight basis points from a week earlier, marked the fourth record low this year. A year ago, the rate averaged 3.84 percent. "Mortgage rates have hit another record low due to declining inflationary pressures, putting many home buyers in the buying mood," Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said in the report. Interest rates on home loans roughly follow long-term bond yields such as the 10-year Treasury note, which fluctuated over the last week as concerns about rising coronavirus infections in some states weakened demand for riskier stocks.

MarketWatch