In other news, the economic slump of the second quarter of the year is now expected to be much worse than previously projected with the economy shrinking by as much as 53 percent. And this includes a significant chunk of time under which most states have at least partially reopened.
Extrapolating from that data, the Atlanta Fed anticipates personal consumption expenditures, which make up 68% of the nation’s gross domestic product, to fall 58.1% in the April-to-June period. Gross private domestic investment, which accounts for 17% of GDP, is now projected to slide 62.6%.
The GDPNow reading undergoes regular revisions and generally is more accurate as it gets closer to the end of the quarter, which in this case is June 30.
In related news, Bloomberg ran the numbers and found that about a third of unemployment benefits haven't been paid out.
The Treasury disbursed $146 billion in unemployment benefits in the three months through May, according to data published Monday -- more than in the whole of 2009, when jobless rates peaked after the financial crisis.
But even that historic figure falls short of a total bill that should have reached about $214 billion for the period, according to Bloomberg calculations based on weekly unemployment filings and the average size of those claims.
Finally, the Episcopal Church of Washington spoke out against Trump's photo op in front of their church yesterday evening and they say they weren't consulted for it.
The Rev. Mariann Budde, bishop of the Washington diocese, said Tuesday that Trump held up the Bible in front of St. John's "as if it were a prop or an extension of his military and authoritarian position."
Budde, in an interview with Craig Melvin on NBC's "TODAY" show, said that what Trump did in front of the church she oversees "was an abuse of the spiritual tools and symbols of our traditions and of our sacred space."
"He didn't come to church to pray, he didn't come to church to offer condolences to those who are grieving," she said. "He didn't come to commit to healing our nation, all the things that we would expect and long for from the highest leader in the land."