Fed’s Powell Says U.S. Must Get Virus Under Control Before Economy Restarts

The Federal Reserve chair voiced a reassuring, if uncertain, message in a rare televised interview as the coronavirus grinds America’s economy to a halt. Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, said during a rare television interview on Thursday that the United States “may well” be in a recession already, but that it should get the coronavirus under control before getting back to work. “The first order of business will be to get the spread of the virus under control, and then to resume economic activity,” Mr.

Powell said on NBC’s “Today. ” “The virus is going to dictate the timetable here. ” Mr. Powell’s comments contrasted with those of President Trump, who has suggested that he wants many Americans to get back to work as soon as Easter, less than three weeks away, and that efforts to slow the spread of the virus by shutting down large parts of the economy should not be worse than the disease itself.

The coronavirus pandemic is inflicting enormous economic damage in the United States, as quarantines close businesses, force workers to stay at home and create uncertainty that has spurred volatility in financial markets. Mr. Powell and his colleagues have been taking aggressive measures to shore up the economy, and he used his first major interview since the crisis began to underline what they are doing — and why. “You may well see significant rises in unemployment, significant declines in economic activity,” Mr.

Powell said. He added that eventually the economy would bounce back, helped by central bank policy, and “we want to make that rebound as vigorous as possible. ” Shortly after he spoke, new data on jobless claims were released, underlining just how painful efforts to contain coronavirus have been for America’s businesses and employees. Nearly 3.

3 million people filed initial jobless claims last week, a huge surge from 281,000 a week earlier and more than four times the previous record high. While the economic fallout from the coronavirus is sure to be severe, causing what many expect to be the biggest single-quarter drop in U. S. growth on record, Fed officials have said they are trying to put the economy into position so it can snap back once the pandemic ends and the world returns to work.