As we approach mid-June, a lot of counties within Pennsylvania have or are preparing to move into the green phase of re-opening. However, there are still a lot of areas in and outside of Pennsylvania that have delayed any re-opening, Philadelphia for example still remains in the yellow phase. Over the past twoweeks we started to see an uptick in the market as small businesses begin re-open with hopes of the economy getting back to a more optimal function. The question then becomes, have we seen the worst effects physically and economically that COVID-19 has caused?
Yesterday, the DOW dropped 1800 points with fear of a second wave of COVID-19. That is a 6.9% decline which is the biggest fall we have seen since the initial crash March 16TH when quarantine areas were initially issued. This plunge took place after Texas reported 2,504 new cases of COVID-19 with Florida and Arizona also seeing spikes. California also hit a record of hospitalizations with Covid related symptoms, with a record of 2 million.
Federal officials voted to keep interest rates low while anticipating the economy to make a full recovery. The FED is projecting unemployment will be more than 9% by year end, taking into consideration the impact COVID-19 will have on this year’s flu season. The FED chairman Jerome Powell stated that the central bank is committed to making sure that economic recovery will be “as robust as possible,” also warning that it will be “a long road, and it is going to take some time”.
