As the coronavirus pandemic continues in the U.S., there remain “an extraordinary amount of uncertainty and considerable risks to the economic outlook,” according to members of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee.
Confidence among the nation’s CEOs in the future economic outlook plummeted in the second quarter, reflecting the acute effects of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., according to the latest Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Index released this week.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told members of the Senate Banking Committee today that he expects the U.S. economy to have a “full recovery” in the long run following the coronavirus pandemic.
FDIC-insured banks and savings institutions earned $18.5 billion in the first quarter of 2020, a 69.6% decline from a year prior, the FDIC reported today.
The coronavirus pandemic poses “acute risks” to the survival of many of the nation’s small businesses, the Federal Reserve said today in its semiannual monetary policy report.
As expected, the Federal Reserve announced today that it would hold the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25% as the U.S. continues to weather the economic challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
The nation’s top economists forecast that the economy will experience a 6% contraction in 2020, with conditions beginning to recover sometime around the third quarter after a sharp second-quarter decline, according to the American Bankers Association’s Economic Advisory Committee.
The nation’s top bank economists forecast continued economic growth that would support job growth and wage gains in 2020 and beyond.
While the economic outlook in the near term remains positive, persistently low interest rates and continued economic growth could encourage investors to take chase yield by taking on more risk, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President and CEO Eric Rosengren cautioned today.