FED Blab, Job Numbers & Christine Legarde

• Yesterday the FED announced they would be holding rates steady...at 0% (as if they had another option).

• FED Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his willingness to do "whatever it takes" to backstop the market, commercial debt, CMBS, unemployed workers & small businesses.

• This comes on the back of an ugly Q1-2020 GDP report yesterday morning, showing cracks in the armor of the U.S. Economy.

Unemployment claims top 30 Million

• Jobless claims reported this morning showed a growth in unemployment of 3.84 million - reaching a total of 30.3M over the last 6 weeks.

• Economists surveyed expected only 3.5M of jobless claims

• While the chart below shows that the peak claims may have been reached, this is far from over.

Europe ain't lookin' too good...

• Christine Legarde, Prez of the ECB alluded to the fact that Europe is going into full-blown recession.

• Did she say that outright? Not exactly - but she did warn of a 15% plunge in the European economy.

#unemployment #GDP #ECB #Recession #Covid19 #FederalReserve