RECOVERY SLOWS AMID VIRUS’S INCREASED CASELOADS

Rising COVID caseloads around the country are slowing any national economic recovery, widespread data shows.
Restaurants’ business increased as lockdown orders were lifted but have since leveled off or dropped back; in some cases, states have reimposed shutdown orders.
According to Capital Resources, foot traffic, after recovering somewhat, stalled in June and is declining in July.
Employers are now calling workers back at a slower rate than they did in June. Families are canceling or scaling back vacation travel plans.
Traffic on U.S. roads has been slower to return than in other developed countries, according to data collected by Barclays.
Also, after an initial surge in May and June, U.S. job listings have shrunk back 20 percent below February’s levels.
About 60 percent of people do not plan to travel on vacation this summer, compared to 52 percent in May, according to a new survey of 1,800 people by Jeffries, an asset management firm. Among those planning a trip, 75 percent say they will drive, up from 60 percent in May, and 24 percent do not expect to return to work “for the foreseeable future.”
A third of survey respondents said they would use another federal stimulus payment to pay down debt or increase their savings.
The survey’s results show “increasing fear of heading out to shop or enjoy entertainment, a sharp drop in expected travel, and less optimism around a 2020 return to work,” Jefferies noted.
TREND FORECAST: The future is in the numbers. The future is in the Fear Factor. As the media continues to hype the amount of new cases – while declining to report that the virus death rate is dropping and ignoring which demographic is dying from the virus and why – more businesses will go bankrupt as more consumers, unemployed and fearful of catching the virus, stay home.