A Wall Street chief economist says a 3rd-quarter growth rebound may not last as the threat of coronavirus layoffs persists
- Chief economist at Stifel said a rebound in third-quarter growth would be likely to come down due to the potential of more job layoffs.
- Lindsey Piegza noted a second or third wave of the coronavirus will keep the economy "very restricted."
- She added that even if a COVID-19 vaccine is established, Americans will be hesitant to take it.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel, told CNBC on Thursday that even if the US were to see third-quarter growth, it's likely to come back down because of a potential resurgence of layoffs.
The economist said that a wave of layoffs occurring after a second or even third wave of the coronavirus will keep the economy in a "very restricted capacity." Around 1,434,000 Americans filed initial claims for unemployment last week, and the total number of Americans seeking unemployment rose to 17 million.
Piegza added that even if a vaccine for COVID-19 is established, there will be a hesitancy from Americans to take it. She said that "we're going to be talking about the impact of the pandemic well into 2021," and that "it's very unlikely that we see the pre-trend pace of growth established until 2022 or sometime beyond."
The US GDP for the second quarter fell a record 32.9% on an annualized basis, beating expectations by over 2 percentage points, numbers released Thursday showed. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta will release an estimate for third quarter GDP on Friday. The Conference Board has forecast 20% growth in GDP for the quarter.