Bookings for goods meant to last at least three years decreased 17.2%, the most since August 2014, after a revised 16.6% decline in March, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 19% decrease.

Revised data on Thursday from the Commerce Department showed first-quarter gross domestic product shrank at an annualized 5% pace as consumer spending and business investment dropped sharply.

Factories in the last two months bore the brunt of the sharp cutback in demand amid the nationwide lockdown. While states have begun letting business reopen, manufacturing will be slow to recover as fewer people shop and businesses rein in capital spending projects.

Closely watched core capital goods orders, which exclude aircraft and military hardware, dropped 5.8% in April after a 1.1% decrease a month earlier. Shipments of those goods, a proxy for equipment investment in the government’s gross domestic product report, fell 5.4%.

The Commerce Department’s revised GDP data showed business fixed investment dropped at a 7.9% annualized rate. Equipment spending plummeted at a 16.7% pace. The report signals the end of the longest U.S. economic expansion and the start of what’s likely to be the deepest recession in at least eight decades.

Corporate profits slumped an annualized 13.9% in the first quarter, according to the GDP report, indicating companies may continue to pull back on capital spending projects until earnings improve.

The durable goods data showed broad declines in orders, including a 47.3% plunge in bookings for transportation equipment such as motor vehicles. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell 7.4%, the most since January 2009.

In a separate report released Thursday, initial jobless claims for regular state programs totaled 2.12 million in the week ended May 23, while benefit rolls declined for the first time during the pandemic.

About 2.1 million of those new unemployment claims were filed just last week, the federal data show, marking a slight decrease from prior weeks while still reflecting the historic toll wrought by a pandemic that has temporarily – and in some cases permanently – shuttered businesses nationwide.

In recent weeks, many states have started lifting restrictions imposed in March meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which by Wednesday, had killed more than 100,000 across the country. But the recovery process has been uneven, hamstringing some states and employers more than others. In a number of states, a very large segment of the labor force is now collecting unemployment benefits. For example, 26.7% of the labor force in Nevada is collecting unemployment benefits, as are 25% in Florida. Even 20.6% of the labor force in California – the U.S.’s most populous state – is collecting jobless claims.

In the meantime, the widespread job losses have left workers in an increasingly perilous bind: Under pressure to return to the labor force — including from the White House — Americans have been left to vie for a fast-shrinking number of jobs assisting offices, entering data and handling other responsibilities that can be predominately executed from home.

There is a growing number of openings in warehouses as major retailers such as Amazon expand their footprints, according to a snapshot compiled by ZipRecruiter, a job-posting website. But some of the greatest demand is for harder-to-get, “safe” jobs requiring little to no face-to-face contact, including data entry, customer service and other human-resource tasks, said Julia Pollak, the company’s labor economist.

Three months ago, for example, 19 people on average might have applied for an open customer-service representative position on the site, ZipRecruiter found. By May, that average had tripled, even though there was a 40% drop in the number of those jobs listed online in the first place.

The scramble for remote, socially distant employment reflects lingering fears on the part of U.S. workers about their physical and financial security as the coronavirus pandemic stretches into its third month — and threatens to eclipse the availability of some federal aid programs.

“With six, seven, eight, maybe even 10 unemployed Americans per job opening,” Pollak said, “it’s a very competitive labor market.”

The tension looms over Washington as congressional lawmakers and the White House feud over their next response to the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus. The latest hit came Wednesday, as Boeing, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers, said it was taking steps to lay off thousands of workers.

The pandemic has resulted in a national unemployment rate exceeding 14%, marking the highest rate since the Great Depression.

The historic rate of joblessness threatens the United States with an uncertain path toward economic recovery, the Federal Reserve affirmed in a report Wednesday, which highlighted precipitous drops in consumer spending, domestic tourism, manufacturing activity and agricultural conditions over the life of the pandemic.

President Donald Trump, for his part, has pledged in recent weeks that a swift rebound is on the horizon. It could take a few more months before a clearer picture of the labor market emerges.

Since March, Americans unexpectedly out of work have benefited from an additional $600-per-week in unemployment aid, a historic enhancement to jobless benefits authorized under the $2 trillion Cares Act. The money has proved critical in helping families pay their bills, maintain their mortgages and purchase groceries and other goods, experts say.

But the aid is set to expire at the end of July without further congressional action, which Trump and his GOP allies have opposed. The potential loss of that critical cash — leaving some Americans with much smaller unemployment checks — may send some workers scrambling this summer to try to find new gigs in a dour market. And then there could be even more competition for remote work that allows employees to stay home.

“For the vast major of people, those [unemployment] benefits don’t even replace half of your prior income,” said Heidi Shierholz, the senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and former chief economist at the Department of Labor. “It will mean people will be definitely out looking for jobs,” she added, creating a crunch because “the number of job openings are greatly reduced by the coronavirus shock.”

Those who aspire to return to the workforce, seeking new positions amid a battered economy, are likely to find their options limited and less than ideal. Already, some economists said they had noticed a growing reluctance on the part of workers to apply for positions where face-to-face interaction is required — and working at home might be difficult or impossible.

A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to rise to between 1,355 and 1,360 on hopes of economic recovery after countries across the globe began easing their coronavirus lockdowns and issuing economic stimulus measures.

“The European Union recently raised a fund of 750 billion euros to help its economy recover,” the analyst noted.

“In addition, the market was buoyed by the Thai Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s preparations for the third phase of lockdown easing, set to begin this week.”

However, the index would come under pressure from mass sell-offs of energy stocks and a tight SET valuation.

“The price of crude oil dropped amid uncertainty following the decline in demand due to the trade conflict between the US and China,” the analyst said.

The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were BAM, BBL, KBANK, PTT, AOT, STA, SCB, CPALL, MINT and GULF.

As of 4.30pm, the price of crude oil dropped by US$0.30 or 0.91 per cent to $32.51 per barrel, while gold price rose by $10.60 or 0.61 per cent, to $1,737.40 per ounce.

European indices were on the rise, while US and Asian indices had a mixed day.

Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 21,916.31, up 497.08 points, or 2.32 per cent.

China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 2,846.22, up 9.42 points, or 0.33 per cent, while Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 10,653.49, down 29.21 points, or 0.27 per cent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 23,132.76, down 168.60 points, or 0.72 per cent.

South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,028.54, down 2.66 points, or 0.13 per cent.

Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 10,944.19, down 70.47 points, or 0.64 per cent.

The council’s report on Thailand’s social situation and outlook for the first quarter showed that more than 8 million people face the risk of losing their job, owing to the spread of Covid-19.

Those facing unemployment can be divided into three groups:

1. Some 3.9 million workers in the tourism sector who have been affected by the drop in domestic and foreign tourist numbers;

2. Workers in the industrial sector, which was already hit hard by the US-China trade war and is further suffering from a drop in both domestic and foreign demand due to the pandemic. However, some industries, such as the producers of food and beverage or necessary items are still growing;

3. Some 4.4 million people working in fresh markets, sports stadiums or shopping malls, stand to lose their jobs due to lockdown measures.

Meanwhile, the drought crisis is expected to affect up to 6 million farmers and 370,000 seasonal workers – the highest in seven years.

However, NESDC believes the rate of unemployment this year will be in the range of 3 to 4 per cent or no more than 2 million people because the Covid-19 pandemic appears to be under control.

Also, the council said, the government has started easing control measures and allowing some economic activities to start again. The government has also come up with measures to help the economy recover by focusing on creating jobs, while the agriculture sector should also be able to provide some jobs despite the drought.

As of 9.30am, buying price of a gold bar was Bt25,700 per baht weight and selling price Bt25,900, while gold ornaments were priced at Bt25,241.40 and Bt26,400, respectively.

At close on Wednesday (May 27), buying price of a gold bar was Bt25,600 per baht weight and selling price Bt25,800, while gold ornaments were priced at Bt25,135.28 and Bt26,300, respectively.

The Gold Spot Index price on Thursday morning moved to around US$1,714 (Bt54,623) per ounce after the price dropped by $1.40 to $1,726.80 per ounce at close on Wednesday.

Investors were selling gold as safe haven asset after the Dow Jones Index rose for two consecutive days. Recently, the index rose over 25,000 points.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong gold price rose by HK$20 to $15,820 (Bt65,024) per tael.

A stock analyst at Krungsri Securities expected the index to rise to between 1,355 and 1,360 on hopes of economic recovery after many countries eased lockdown and issued economic stimulus measures.

“Recently the European Union raised 750 billion euros to help the economy recover,” the analyst said.

“In addition, the market gained positive sentiment from the Thai Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration’s aim to announce the third phase of lockdown easing within this week.”

However, the index would be under pressure from mass sell-offs in energy stocks and the tight SET valuation.

“The price of crude oil dropped from uncertainty following the decline in oil demand due to the conflict between the US and China,” the analyst said.

He recommended investors to buy TMB, KKP, TISCO, AH, SAT, including:

● Stocks which will benefit from the government’s tourism stimulus measure, such as MINT, CENTEL, ERW, AOT, MAJOR and SPA.

● Stocks which have been added to the MSCI calculation – AWC, BAM and KTC.

● Stocks whose second quarter performance will improve, such as CKP, TASCO, STA, RS and EPG.