The unemployment rate, 7.9 percent in September, is more than twice the level when the year began, and new claims for unemployment insurance continue at 800,000-plus every week, four times the prepandemic rate. Add it all up and there are 11 million fewer Americans working than before the pandemic. “We thought bond yields would be lower for longer,” said Luca Paolini, chief strategist at Pictet Asset Management. Discord between congressional Democrats and Republicans has prevented the passage of a follow-up to the multitrillion-dollar stimulus package enacted soon after the pandemic took hold. On Tuesday, President Trump ordered White House negotiators to suspend talks with Democrats until after the election, suggesting that no deal would be reached soon, although he seemed to backtrack a bit on Twitter.

Source: International New York Times October 09, 2020 09:00 UTC