Our COVID-19 Indicators Of The Week

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Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

A lot has happened this week. As reaction to the coronavirus pandemic has gripped the U.S., we've been overwhelmed by economic indicators. For example: hotel occupancy (down); housebuilder shares (down); unemployment claims (up); restaurant traffic (down). There are so many indicators, in fact, that it makes working on a show called The Indicator particularly challenging. Which indicator to choose?

We've decided to perform triage on all the lights flashing on our economic dashboard, and restrict ourselves to talking about the two we think are the most significant right now. First, zero. That's the new benchmark interest rate set by the Federal Reserve. Second, 27. That's the number of days that nearly half of all the small businesses in the United States can go without making any revenue.

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