Strome Business Minute With Dr. Jeff Tanner

They say if your neighbor loses a job, it’s a recession. If you lose your job, it’s a depression. When I talk with business leaders, their view of the economy depends on what sector they’re in. And while the economy and the stock market are not one and the same thing, they are related. Shockingly good news on May’s employment numbers led to a stock price surge driven by individual investors. But those same investors grew skittish, fearing more lockdowns in the face of a COVID resurgence in states that tried to re-open too early, and stock prices fell. Those individuals shifted quickly to what Bloomberg analyst Mohamed El-Erian calls “stay at home” stocks, like Netflix and Amazon. Now, the hope is for a Fed action to prop up the market but the bigger needs are the virus and the economy. This has been Strome Business Minute, presented by the Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University.