WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve finishes its latest policy meeting on Wednesday with attention turning from its huge response to the coronavirus pandemic and toward its still-developing strategies to enhance and extend a nascent economic recovery.
FILE PICTURE: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talks to press reporters after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates in an emergency relocation designed to protect the world’s largest economy from the impact of the coronavirus, throughout a press conference in Washington, U.S., March 3,2020 REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
A work report revealing 2.5 million jobs were produced in Might amazed economic experts with the speed at which companies started rehiring workers laid off en masse as virus-containment efforts required businesses to close and consumers to stay at home.
While a source for some optimism, Fed officials have been consistent in stating economic stats for now are less important than development in the health crisis. The economy is formally in an economic crisis that started in February, and policymakers agree risks will remain high up until it is clear a 2nd wave of infections won’t force individuals back indoors.
However amid the gloom of around 20 million jobs lost considering that February, an economy probably shrinking at a Depression-era pace, and nearly 111,000 Americans dead, stock exchange are back near pre-crisis highs