July 30, 2020

Today the Commerce Department reported Gross Domestic Product was down 32.9% for the second quarter following a 5% decline in the first quarter of 2020.  Economist were forecasting for a 34.7% decline due to the shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.  This is the sharpest decline on record and now puts the United States in a technical recession with two consecutive negative quarters of negative GDP.  The National Bureau of Economic Research is reporting the recession likely started in February.

Markets opened lower this morning after posting positive returns yesterday.  Congress is still working on a coronavirus relief bill as U.S. weekly jobless claims were expected to rise to 1.45 million but came in slightly under that at 1.43 million.

Work on a coronavirus vaccine continues, AstraZenica reported their data is showing it may need to be administered every 12 to 18 months.  According to John Hopkins University, eight states hit record high average daily deaths on Wednesday and U.S. cases at more than 4.4 million.