With the recovery faltering, pressure is mounting for the White House and Congress to agree on a second stimulus package. "This is hard to swallow," said Jason Reed, finance professor at the University of Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business. The drop in GDP was more than triple the previous all-time decline of 10pc in the second quarter of 1958. The US central bank kept interest rates near zero and pledged to continue pumping money into the economy. A total of 30.2 million Americans were receiving unemployment cheques in the week ending July 11.

Source: Irish Independent July 31, 2020 01:39 UTC