US expected to report record-breaking economic plunge due to Covid-19

On Thursday, the government will issue its first of three estimates of economic activity, as measured by the gross domestic product, for the April-June quarter.

Having endured what was surely a record-shattering slump last quarter, the US economy faces a dim outlook as a resurgent coronavirus intensifies doubts about any sustained recovery the rest of the year.
 

A huge plunge in consumer spending as people stayed home and avoided shopping, travelling or gathering in crowds as the virus raged is estimated to have sent the economy sinking at a roughly 32 per cent annual rate in the April-June quarter.
 

That would be more than triple the previous worst quarterly economic fall, a 10 per cent drop set in 1958. Depressed activity in such areas as