Capital Economics says rash of closures likely to spawn recession
The U.S. economy could contract by a whopping 4% in the second quarter in light of the European travel ban, the suspension of professional sports, a shutdown of the Broadway theater district in New York and the like to combat the coronavirus epidemic.
That’s the most recent guesswork by Capital Economics. The advisory firm’s dire forecast is based on a rash of major closures involving schools, workplaces, sports leagues and venerated cultural institutions.
“As a result, we now expect GDP to fall by 4% annualized in the second quarter and to stagnate in the third,” wrote Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
In short, a U.S. recession.