Fed's Bostic says U.S. recovery may be 'levelling off': FT interview

[July 07, 2020]  (Reuters) - Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said the U.S. economic recovery is in danger of stalling due to the recent spike in coronavirus cases across many American states.

Raphael Bostic, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta walks into the three-day "Challenges for Monetary Policy" conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, U.S., August 23, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Crosby

High-frequency data had shown a "levelling off" of economic activity both in terms of business openings and mobility, he told the Financial Times newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

"There are a couple of things that we are seeing and some of them are troubling and might suggest that the trajectory of this recovery is going to be a bit bumpier than it might otherwise," he told the newspaper.

"And so we're watching this very closely, trying to understand exactly what's happening."

California, Texas and Florida are all among two dozen U.S. states reporting high infection rates as a percentage of diagnostic tests conducted over the past week, an alarming sign of a virus still spreading largely unchecked throughout much of the country.

The U.S. death toll from the virus has topped 130,000, Reuters calculations show.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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