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US economy down 4.8% in first quarter and an “unprecedented” drop forecasted for the second quarter

Thursday, April 30th 2020 - 07:48 UTC
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Fed chief Jerome Powell said he expects an “unprecedented” drop in second-quarter GDP and for there to be significant increases in unemployment Fed chief Jerome Powell said he expects an “unprecedented” drop in second-quarter GDP and for there to be significant increases in unemployment
GDP declined at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first quarter, ending the longest expansion in U.S. history, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday GDP declined at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first quarter, ending the longest expansion in U.S. history, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday

The U.S. central bank that has already slashed interest rates to zero reiterated on Wednesday they will stay there until the economy is clearly back on track. It has also rolled out around US$ 2 trillion in lending commitments, and Fed chief Jerome Powell said it was ready to do more as needed.

In the meantime, new programs to buy corporate bonds and lend to mid-sized companies are in the end stages of development and will be ready “soon,” Powell said.

In a matter of weeks the U.S. economy has gone from historically low unemployment to seeing more than 26 million people file for unemployment benefits and the sharpest plunge in activity since the 2007-2009 Great Recession, as authorities across the country shut down large swaths of industry and commerce to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Gross domestic product declined at a 4.8% annualized rate in the first quarter, ending the longest expansion in U.S. history, the Commerce Department reported earlier on Wednesday.

Powell said he expects an “unprecedented” drop in second-quarter GDP and for there to be significant increases in unemployment. It also will “take some time” for consumers to start spending again once the economy begins to reopen, he said.

Powell also said it will continue to buy U.S. Treasuries and agency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities in the amounts needed to support smooth markets, and to offer large-scale overnight and term repurchase agreement operations.

Powell said the Fed will use its tools “forcefully proactively and aggressively.”

Categories: Economy, Politics, United States.

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  • Terence Hill

    'Heads we win, tails you lose': how America's rich have turned pandemic into profit
    “As 26 million Americans lose their jobs, the billionaire class has added $308bn to its wealth
    According to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, between 18 March and 22 April the wealth of America’s plutocrats grew 10.5%.
    The billionaire bonanza comes as a flotilla of big businesses, millionaires and billionaires sail through loopholes in a $349bn bailout meant to save hard-hit small businesses. About 150 public companies managed to bag more than $600m in forgivable loans before the funds ran out.
    Meanwhile, billionaires have been unable to put a well-heeled foot wrong. Billionaire wealth soared 1,130% in 2020 dollars between 1990 and 2020, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. That increase is more than 200 times greater than the 5.37% growth of median wealth in the US over this same period. And the tax obligations of America’s billionaires, measured as a percentage of their wealth, decreased 79% between 1980 and 2018.”
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/26/heads-we-win-tails-you-lose-how-americas-rich-have-turned-pandemic-into-profit

    May 01st, 2020 - 03:16 pm 0
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