CNBC Economy

American industry suffered the most severe plunge on record last month with factories, mines and utilities battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The biggest factor in the downturn was a collapse in clothing and accessories that amounted to an 89.3% fall from a year ago.

Even with tens of millions of jobs lost and a historic decline in output projected this quarter, the U.S. economy could still pull off a relatively quick recovery, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said on Thursday.

The total 2.981 million new claims for unemployment insurance brought the coronavirus crisis count to nearly 36.5 million, though the weekly trend continued lower.

U.S. import prices fell by the most in more than five years in April as the coronavirus crisis depressed demand for petroleum products, which could strengthen some economists' predictions of a brief period of deflation.

Construction and manufacturing may be some of the quickest sectors to regain jobs, experts say, but the hospitality industry may have more difficulty.

But negative interest rates wouldn't be "very helpful" to the economy, said Zach Pandl, co-head of global foreign exchange, rates and emerging markets strategy at Goldman Sachs.

As open houses reemerge from the coronavirus shutdown, buyers are coming back to the housing market much faster than expected.

Georgia's new coronavirus cases have plateaued, but it could take until the end of the month to know the effects of reopening the economy.

Some strategists say the Fed could announce a new quantitative easing program before or at its June 9-10 meeting.

Five percent to 10% of pre-Covid-19 demand could be decimated permanently, as "lost store volume can't entirely be made up online," Wells Fargo retail analyst Ike Boruchow said.

Mester echoed Chairman Jerome Powell's mostly pessimistic view on the economy, telling CNBC on Wednesday that while growth is likely to return by the end of the year, it could be slow.

The House subcommittee tasked with overseeing the country's coronavirus response is scheduled to hold its first briefing on Wednesday where members will discuss reopening the nation's economy.

"The worst thing that could happen," economically, is that a country reopens and then has to shut down again to respond to a resurgence of the virus, said WHO official Dr. Mike Ryan.

Roughly 1.8 million residents struggling with unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic have filed claims, roughly six times the number of claims filed during the 2008 financial crisis, officials said.

Powell noted the unprecedented strength of fiscal and monetary measures already taken but stressed the need to make sure that the deepest slump since the Great Depression does not get out of control.

"I know there are fans of the policy, but for now it's not something that we're considering," the central bank chief said Wednesday.

The focus of the speech is on the economy and the damage done during the coronavirus crisis.

U.S. producer prices fell more than expected in April, leading to the largest annual decline since 2015.

"The forces that will bring about inflation are aligning," Chetan Ahya, chief Asia economist at Morgan Stanley, said in a note.