"With jobless claims spiking already (280k vs 220k expected) it sets a bad tone for the economy, although at this point most people are expecting a huge shock going forward, so what's more important will be policy – especially fiscal stimulus," Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, told Business Insider in an email.
"It's guaranteed that Q2 will be a negative GDP number and unemployment will jump, but there is still time to put the correct policies and programs in place to try and salvage the rest of the year."
"Covid-19 will remain a crisis for months and self-quarantine is going to have a huge negative impact on consumer spending, employment and economic activity. The government needs to come together and work with the private sector in order to get us through the public health crisis and mitigate, as much as possible, the recession that we've likely already entered."