Yahoo Finance Daily

President Trump hopes for a sharp rebound in the economy by fall, as the coronavirus outbreak eases and some Americans go back to work. But the economic damage in several swing states crucial to the 2020 presidential race will still be devastating on Election Day, and beyond. New projections from forecasting firm IHS Markit show 6 swing states among the 10 states with the worst job losses by the beginning of 2021: Nevada, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Arizona.

The coronavirus pandemic could deplete the Social Security program four years earlier than previously predicted, according to a new analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model. As the outbreak continues to batter the American economy and increase jobless claims by the millions, revenue into Social Security, which is funded by a payroll tax, has been hard hit.

The S&P 500 has crossed the 3,000 level again and investors are clearly riding high on hope for a second half economic recovery post the worst of COVID-19. But that doesn’t mean the market is immune to a pullback this summer primarily because the economic data will likely continue to be horrible. Remember bulls, the U.S. economy has been kicked in the face by the pandemic, and a rebound won’t happen overnight simply because states are reopening.

Deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus outbreak are exceeding the pace that several models projected earlier this year. On Wednesday, the death toll hovered at 99,000 on the Johns Hopkins University site, while Worldometer, shows the death toll has surpassed 100,000. Without the wide scale stay-at-home orders, which most states adopted, and travel bans in and out of the U.S., the death toll was projected to be more than 1 million.

With 2020 shaping up to be one of the hottest years on record, the insurance industry, already hobbled by the coronavirus pandemic, is bracing for another wave of insurance claims. If 2019 is any guide, economic losses from climate-related disasters could top $137 billion, according to figures from insurance company Swiss Re.

Social distancing and tight consumer budgets amid COVID-19 may be a boon for the used car industry. “We’ve seen a huge increase of people coming to shift.com,” says George Arison, founder and co-CEO of the peer-to-peer car marketplace.”It's been kind of incredible.” Arison told Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade business picked up after initially declining due to shelter-in-place measures to contain the virus. “Within a couple of weeks, sales came back.

Washington State paid out “hundreds of millions” in bogus unemployment benefits to scammers, according to the state’s Employment Security Department. The scam has likely hit numerous other states including Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Wyoming, and most recently, Hawaii.

The number of jobs lost due to the coronavirus shutdown continue to mount, with the latest weekly total of Americans applying for unemployment benefits topping 2 million, yet again. The latest swath of applications brings the total amount of jobless claims to more than 38 million over the past nine weeks, nearly wiping out the 20 million jobs added over the last decade by a two-to-one margin. But some states have been feeling the impact of job losses more than others.

Stocks rose Wednesday and the Dow advanced more than 300 points, or 1.2%, as hopes surrounding some states’ reopenings extended during the session. Wall Street was poised to reverse Tuesday losses, which sent each of the Dow and S&P 500 off more than 1%. These declines came after a STAT News report late during the regular trading day questioned the significance of the data Moderna (MRNA) provided in assessing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Newly sent out stimulus checks from lawmakers may be having their desired effects: boost consumer spending — which makes up about 70% of the U.S. economy — and yank the U.S. economy out of a severe recession this summer. “As the [first] quarter progressed, we saw a second phase related to entertaining and educating at home. Puzzles and video games took off. Parents became teachers. Adult bicycles started selling out, as parents started to join the kids.

Investors going long may find the best opportunities in technology and ‘serendipity’ stocks, says strategist James McDonald, CEO of Hercules Investments. “This is a wonderful time to invest,” McDonald told Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. “Right now, the leaders in the S&P 500 (^GSCP) are no longer oil companies and big industrial companies. They are tech companies that are sitting on hoards of cash.

Stocks reversed earlier losses and ended the session slightly higher, as investors continued to weigh new economic data and earnings results against hopes of a speedy economic reopening. The Dow ended the session up about 60 points, after shedding as many as 271 points earlier in the day. A flare-up in U.S.-China tensions also contributed to a move away from equities earlier in the session, with the U.S.

The market may be headed for a correction — and remain “lower for longer,” says Noah Hamman, CEO of AdvisorShares. “We know there'll be some good news coming and hopefully a vaccine coming, but there's probably a lot of headwinds between company earnings and who knows what's going to happen between the U.S. and China as we get closer to the election cycle,” Hamman told Yahoo Finance’s The First Trade. “We think it's going to be lower for longer.

Congress on Wednesday began a debate over a new round of coronavirus-fighting economic stimulus, as those infected closed in on 4.3 million worldwide, which prompted investors to rethink the wisdom of extending a recent rally. The COVID-19 crisis, which has claimed over 293,000 lives worldwide, has brought the world’s largest economy to a standstill as officials weigh strategies to relax stay-at-home orders. In the U.S., cases continue to rise at a markedly slower clip, but are nearing 1.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled her plan for another stimulus package this week, this one costing more than $3 trillion. The proposal, called the HEROES Act, includes a second round of direct stimulus checks to Americans, and has already been dismissed by Republicans as a liberal wish list, The bill calls for another $1,200 to qualifying Americans, similar to the Economic Impact Payments in the CARES Act. It does have more generous provisions for up to three dependents, $1,200 for each child.