by Rick Ackerman
RickAckerman.com
America is in the eye of the storm, hunkering down for what Mr. Trump promises will be a “very painful two weeks.” Some may have gotten the impression that the economic pain could begin to ease then, but he was talking about the death toll and the rising count of infections. No one can say how long the economic fallout will continue, but the most optimistic estimate I’ve seen suggests the nation will lose perhaps a quarter year’s production. If so, that seems manageable, especially when you add in the Fed’s $2T rescue package and stepped-up unemployment benefits that in most cases will equal lost pay. In the meantime, fear seems to have ebbed from the stop market, even if there is insufficient enthusiasm at the moment to push stocks into a sustained rally.