Bill Hemmer: Coronavirus impact may be bigger than 9/11, Great Recession: 'Going to remake industries forever'
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Fox News' Bill Hemmer told the "Fox News Rundown" podcast Wednesday that the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic may be a bigger story than any of the cataclysmic events that have shaped the nation and the world over the past two decades.
"I've put this, over the past 20 years, in the categories of the election recount of 2000 in [Florida], of 9/11 ... of [Hurricane] Katrina in New Orleans, of the financial wreck of '08 and '09," Hemmer told host Jessica Rosenthal. "And I'm starting to think that this is bigger than all of them in ways that so many people could not predict, not just in the United States, but in countries all over the world.
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"If your question [whether the virus or its economic impact is the bigger story] is asking me, 'Choose A or B today,'" the "Bill Hemmer Reports" host added, "I'm choosing B, because this is going to remake industries forever in ways that we cannot predict."
When asked by Rosenthal about the Trump administration's forecasts of an economic rally beginning in the second half of this year and continuing into 2021, Hemmer responded, "My sense is that everyone's guessing."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"With regard to the overall economy, I think the market is reacting in a way that most people did not expect," Hemmer added. "You know, the S&P and the Nasdaq, they're about where they were before all this happened. I think that has been confounding to many. What I sense is that investors believe the comeback could happen sooner rather than later. Not saying they're right, but I think they're betting on that.
"I would also add that between [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin and Jerome Powell, the [Federal Reserve] chair, they have put so much money into the system, it is bound to have an effect. With regard to Congress and whether or not they make another move, I don't think you can expect that well into June, if at all, pending how this recovery goes."
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