CNBC Economy

Five percent to 10% of pre-Covid-19 demand could be decimated permanently, as "lost store volume can't entirely be made up online," Wells Fargo retail analyst Ike Boruchow said.

Mester echoed Chairman Jerome Powell's mostly pessimistic view on the economy, telling CNBC on Wednesday that while growth is likely to return by the end of the year, it could be slow.

The House subcommittee tasked with overseeing the country's coronavirus response is scheduled to hold its first briefing on Wednesday where members will discuss reopening the nation's economy.

"The worst thing that could happen," economically, is that a country reopens and then has to shut down again to respond to a resurgence of the virus, said WHO official Dr. Mike Ryan.

Roughly 1.8 million residents struggling with unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic have filed claims, roughly six times the number of claims filed during the 2008 financial crisis, officials said.

Powell noted the unprecedented strength of fiscal and monetary measures already taken but stressed the need to make sure that the deepest slump since the Great Depression does not get out of control.

"I know there are fans of the policy, but for now it's not something that we're considering," the central bank chief said Wednesday.

The focus of the speech is on the economy and the damage done during the coronavirus crisis.

U.S. producer prices fell more than expected in April, leading to the largest annual decline since 2015.

"The forces that will bring about inflation are aligning," Chetan Ahya, chief Asia economist at Morgan Stanley, said in a note.

Hedge fund investor Paul Tudor Jones said the country may have trouble following contact tracing and other methods used by other nations to contain the virus quickly because of how Americans feels about individual freedoms.

Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics' worries businesses may reopen too soon and create another spike in coronavirus cases.

Millions of small business owners have not received government loans under the CARES Act. Many are bootstrapping, crowdfunding and deferring mortgage payments to stay afloat.

"The reported numbers are probably going to get worse before they get better," Mnuchin said.

As the coronavirus pandemic disrupts supply chains across the country, farmers have been forced to destroy their crops, dump milk and throw out perishable items that can't be stored.

Both numbers easily smashed post-World War II era records and help reflect the profound damage done through efforts used to combat the virus.

Democrats are pushing for at least one more round of direct payments during the coronavirus crisis after many voters got $1,200 stimulus checks.

States enduring the brunt of the Covid-19 crisis are receiving a smaller proportion of emergency small business loans, a Fed study found.

Bullard's comments came minutes before ADP reported that private payrolls shed more than 20 million jobs in April amid coronavirus shutdowns.

An auction May 20 will feature a sale of $20 billion worth as part of an effort to push the record-setting debt levels further out in terms of duration.