Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that he hopes work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will be finished by early next year. “I hope that by the end of this year, or in the first quarter of next year, work will be finished and the gas pipeline will start operating,” Putin told a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after talks at the Kremlin. Source France24
- The coronavirus economic freeze could cost 47 million jobs and send the unemployment rate past 32%, according to St. Louis Fed projections.
- There are nearly 67 million Americans working in jobs that are at a high risk of layoffs, according to the analysis.
- St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said last week that the initial estimates are grim but the plunge should be short-lived. Source CNBC
The world’s largest economy is likely to contract at an annualized rate of 34 percent in the second quarter as the unemployment rate soars to 15 percent, according to economists at the Wall Street investment bank led by Jan Hatzius. The team had previously expected the economy to shrink by 24 percent and unemployment to hit 9 percent during the quarter. Source Fox
Iraq plans to raise output by about 200,000 barrels a day, reaching 4.8 million barrels a day in average production, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The country would join Saudi Arabia, Russia and others in adding more barrels to a sated market amid a price war — even as the coronavirus saps global demand. Source Bloomberg
