Economic activity is starting to recover. Officially "reopening" actually doesn't make much difference.
- US economic activity is recovering from the pandemic lows.
- But states that are reopening early like Georgia and Texas are not seeing a significant boost compared to the rest of the US.
- A version of this post first appeared in "Insider Today," a daily email written by Henry Blodget and David Plotz. To receive it in your inbox, please sign up here.
- This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
US economic activity is gradually starting to recover, says Goldman Sachs economist Blake Taylor.
It's recovering faster in states that began to "reopen" earlier than others, but only modestly. And it was recovering faster than average in most of these states anyway.
Taylor's chart below shows mobility data — the amount of time that people spend at offices, restaurants, stores, and transit stations. The black line shows the average for the US overall. The colored lines show activity in four states — Georgia, Texas, Colorado, and Tennessee — that reopened earlier than others. The diamonds show the dates the states began to reopen.
As you can see, activity bottomed in the first half of April and has been increasing everywhere since, even before the reopenings. And the reopenings have not yet significantly affected this trajectory.
A version of this post first appeared in "Insider Today," a daily email written by Henry Blodget and David Plotz. To receive it in your inbox, please sign up here.
Read the original article on Business Insider