FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in the financial district of lower Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, U.S., April 26, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
WSJ: For Economy, Worst of Coronavirus Shutdowns May Be Over
Recovering air travel, hotel bookings and mortgage applications are among the early signs the U.S. economy is slowly creeping back to life.
Truck loads are growing again. Air travel and hotel bookings are up slightly. Mortgage applications are rising. And more people are applying to open new businesses.
These are among some early signs the U.S. economy is, ever so slowly, creeping back to life.
Plenty of data show the country was still mired in a severe downturn in April and May, with overall business activity falling and layoffs rising—though more slowly than in the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis. Current projections have the economy contracting by 6% to 7% this year and unemployment lingering in double-digit percentages for a while. But, for the first time since the pandemic forced widespread U.S. business closures in March, it appears conditions in some corners of the economy aren’t getting worse, and might even be improving.
“If this is the only wave [of coronavirus], it looks like we’ve bottomed out and the normalization process has begun,” said Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global Ratings.
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WNU Editor: I am using China's economic return as my reference point on how other economies will/may come back. Currently in China .... manufacturing is coming back, but retail, housing, hospitality, restaurants, travel, they are all coming back but very slowly. Interesting .... public transportation is a fraction of what it use to be. I guess people are preferring to use their cars and/or are car pooling. On a more positive note. The enormous job loses that occured in China at the beginning of the year are now reversing.
