U.S. manufacturing output increased more than expected in December, but disruptions to the supply chain as the relentless pandemic keeps some workers at home could slow production in the months ahead.
By Reuters Staff
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(Reuters) - Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari on Friday said he believes the pandemic will weigh on Americans through all of 2021, and emphasized the need for a speedier vaccine rollout as well as continued fiscal support.
“It’s a long time until we can get to the other side of that,” he said in a virtual town hall held by the Minnesota Hospital Association, citing new virus variants and the slow rollout of vaccines as making him more cautious over the outlook.
Americans will still need to wear masks and keep social distance through the end of the year, he forecast, delaying the return to normal economic function.
Read more about Not the time to discuss any change to bond purchases, says Fed s Powell on Business Standard. With the US economy still far from its inflation and employment goals it is too early for the Federal Reserve to discuss changing its monthly bond purchases, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said
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(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s proposal to pour $1.9 trillion into a hobbled economy could lay the foundation for a surge in jobs and spending that many economists say is needed to avoid long-term damage from a record-breaking pandemic recession.
Analysts had already begun marking up their forecasts for economic growth this year after last week’s elections in Georgia delivered control of both houses of Congress to Democrats.
Many, though, had penciled in smaller packages, more along the lines of the $892 billion stimulus passed in December.
Spending big on vaccine rollout, testing, and to shore up state and local governments on the frontlines of those efforts could help bring a swifter end to the country’s healthcare crisis, which remains at the root of the economic crisis.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said on Friday he welcomes President-elect Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package as "big" but "appropriate," and signaled the Fed has no inclination to dial back from its own super-easy monetary policy.