WASHINGTON
Hiring is surging and wages are rising in the United States as the year begins, but the coronavirus is poised to infect the economy and hamper President Donald Trump’s re-election bid. Wall Street has tumbled in recent days as the outbreak spread and undermined the view that the US economy is inoculated against the danger. The White House has tried to downplay the impact, and Trump on Friday even made the extraordinary claim that US businesses are benefitting from people staying in the country while predicting stocks would bounce back. But private economists warn the positive data presents an outdated picture, and more real-time gauges of economic activity already show the spreading alarm. That is all the more dangerous in an economy dominated by the services sector: factories can ramp up production once the danger is passed, but if people stop going to movie theaters, sporting events and hotels, those earnings are lost forever. And workers in many of those businesses do not have paid sick leave, meaning they may go to work while infected with the virus or lose money they would otherwise spend if they take time off. “It’s not a health pandemic yet… it’s what I call an economic pandemic,” Diane Swonk of Grant Thornton said on CNBC. “The global effect of all these things happening simultaneously is compounding the impact and the fallout for the United States.” Trump once again demanded the Federal Reserve lower borrowing rates to stimulate the economy.—APP
