First the facts, unemployment claims in the USA have now just hit 36M total as Covid-19 related lockdowns and restrictions rumble on. This is an increase of 3M on the last week. Peak figures on a weekly basis were around 7M in a single week at the end March. Truly frightening statistics further compounded by the tragic deaths of around 85,000 if its citizens.
This comes in stark contrast with US indices and markets, that given the above still seem, to many, to be grossly overvalued. The divide between Main St and Wall St in the US has been growing now for many years but never has it been so much in the spotlight.
Powell’s Fed has taken a win at all costs approach, attempting to kill off any uncertainty by churning out cash and printing the virus into submission. US markets yesterday saw a major selloff after Anthony Fauci, a senior member of Trump’s Covid task force warned that prematurely terminating lockdowns could result in “suffering and death”. Yet, a strong juxtaposition to this is many groups in the US openly protesting because they feel their civil liberties are threatened by being told to stay at home. This speaks for itself and requires no further comment from me.
What we can say with some semblance of certainty is that there are going to be many long, hard months ahead for the US and global economies.
