President Trump calls for return to ‘the way it was’; Operation Warp Speed’ aims to produce virus vaccine, and Other Coronavirus Updates
The coronavirus crisis is crashing the U.S. economy at the fastest rate since the Great Depression, the government reported Wednesday, while the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero as long as it takes to bolster a recovery.
President Trump said the need for people to go back to work is so urgent that he wants to see a return soon to full-capacity restaurants, sports stadiums —and campaign rallies — with or without a vaccine.
“We want it to be the way it was,” Mr. Trump said during a meeting with business leaders at the White House. “We can’t have somebody with half a restaurant. That’s not going to pay the rent.”
With more than 26 million Americans having lost their jobs in the past two months, the Commerce Department said first-quarter economic output contracted at an annual pace of 4.8%. Adjusted for inflation, the drop from the fourth-quarter GDP of 3.6% matches the quickest and biggest fall since the Depression in 1932.
Consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity, fell by a whopping 7.6%.
And the plunge caused by the pandemic hasn’t hit bottom. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting that U.S. gross domestic product will collapse at an annual rate of up to 40% for the April-to-June period.
Faced with those staggering numbers, the Fed signaled Wednesday that it will keep its short-term interest rate near zero for the foreseeable future. The central bank also said it will keep buying Treasury and mortgage bonds generally to spur lending.
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