The U.S. may already be in a recession, and it could linger even after the covid-19 crisis is over

There is a high likelihood that the United States will enter a recession in 2020. In fact, one may have already started.

America is shutting down at lightning speed as schools and businesses instruct people to go home and wait the new coronavirus out. That is having a huge ripple effect on the economy as people curtail spending on about everything but toilet paper, pasta and hand sanitizer.

The pace at which all of this is happening is unprecedented. In 2008, it took 274 days for the stock market to enter the dreaded “bear market” territory. It took 24 days to enter a bear market now. (Even after Friday’s rally, the Dow remains in a bear market). JPMorgan just changed its forecast to predict two quarters of negative growth, which is typically defined as a recession.

Economists and big Wall Street investors nearly all agree the nation has to do whatever it takes to get the health crisis under control, even if that means putting the economy into a recession. The hope was that a downturn would be short-lived. Until only a few days ago, most economists were talking about a V- or U-shaped situation with a quick drop this spring that would be followed by a big rebound this summer as Americans cooped up at home do a mass rush back into “normal” life.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/13/us-may-already-be-recession-it-could-linger-even-after-covid-19-crisis-is-over/