The US economy contracted at the sharpest rate since at least the 1940s in the second quarter this year, affirming fears that the coronavirus pandemic and measures to contain it drove a historic plunge in consumer and business activity.
The world’s largest economy contracted by 32.9 percent according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in line with consensus estimates, while personal consumption declined by 34.6 percent.
Market participants were bracing for an ugly second-quarter print, with the coronavirus pandemic forcing business closures and disrupting daily life for much of the April through June period.
The sharp contraction is despite the US throwing a record $6 trillion at the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed 153,848 American lives, the most of any country. The US has also reported the most number of cases
The sharp contraction despite a record stimulus that was supposed to soften the blow of the pandemic casts an uncomfortable light on countries like Nigeria whose fiscal and monetary stimulus were relatively small.
