The U.S. GDP suffers a historic plunge in the second quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic

On Thursday, the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) suffered the biggest economic decline in the second quarter as the surge of coronavirus cases affected the whole country.

The U.S. government decided to shut down restaurants, stores, factories, and other businesses to contain the virus’s spread. The U.S. central bank kept interest rates near zero and pledged to continue bringing money into the economy.

“The bottom fell out of the economy in the second quarter. The outlook is not very good. Americans are not behaving well in terms of social distancing, the infection rate is unacceptably high, and that means economic growth cannot gain any traction,” Loyola Marymount University LA’s Finance and Economics Professor Sung Won Sohn said.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged the slowdown of the economy.