1) Ten million people have rushed to file unemployment claims only to find a system swamped to the point of being nonfunctional. State websites are buckling, their phone lines jammed with backlogs mounting from jobless people seeking benefits, needing help. To make matters worst, the federal government has not dispersed all the necessary monies to states so there isn’t enough money for benefits. While the coronavirus is concentrated in a few areas of the country, the economic havoc has been nation wide.
2) Wells Fargo bank is bowing out of the new federal program aimed at helping small businesses retain workers and pay bills. The bank is no longer accepting new loan applications under the Paycheck Protection Program, which is part of the $2.2 trillion dollar economic relief package. The bank had committed $10 billion dollars to the loan program, but has already reached more than that amount in applications. Last year, Wells Fargo arranged more small business loans than any other lender. The Paycheck Protection Program offers 1% interest loans to business with fewer than 500 workers, and if borrowers don’t lay off workers in the next eight weeks, they will have their loans and interest forgiven. The program allots $350 billion dollars, but as of Friday only 17,000 loans have been approved for a total of $5.4 billion dollars.
3) Jamie Dimon, CEO for JP Morgan Chase, predicts a ‘bad recession’ as a result of the coronavirus, where the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) could plunge as much as 35% annual rate in the second quarter with a down turn lasting the rest of the year. Furthermore, the unemployment rate could spike as high as 14% during this recession. Because of the extension of new credit, a major recession means we are exposing the bank to billions of dollars of additional credit losses in helping businesses through this setback.
4) Stock market closings for – 6 APR 20:
Dow 22,679.99 up 1627.46
Nasdaq 7,913.24 up 540.16
S&P 500 2,663.68 up 175.03
10 Year Yield: up at 0.68%
Oil: down at $26.73