By Kuldip K. Ambastha
The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc all around the world. In the USA, retail sales declined by 8.7%, making for a record decline. The previous record was 3.9% in November 2008, during the Great Recession / global financial crisis (GFC) era. Clothing and accessories sales declined 50.5%. Food services and drinking places declined 26.5%. Auto vehicle and parts sales declined 25.6%. Due to a need to prepare for staying at home for a potentially long period, food and beverage (including groceries) sales increased by 25.6%. Continued lockdowns all over the USA likely will mean that even worse data will be seen in the month of April plus the quarter of 2Q2020 overall.
American factory output in March fell by 6.3%, which was the largest monthly decline since 1946. Looking at underlying sectors, motor vehicle output fell the most with a decline of 28%. In recent history, these factory output figures are quite negative, especially in light of the fact that during the Great Recession / GFC period 3.5% drops in factory output were seen in September 2008 and December 2008. This is all bad news, with more bad news likely to come in the near future.
Keywords – coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, public health, crisis, Great Recession, global financial crisis, GFC, retail sales, lockdown, factory output, bad news.
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