Fed's Powell: U.S. may be in recession, control of virus to dictate timing of economy reopening

[March 26, 2020]    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. "may well be in recession" but progress in controlling the spread of the coronavirus will dictate when the economy can fully reopen, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Thursday in an interview on NBC's Today Show.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks to reporters after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates in an emergency move designed to shield the world's largest economy from the impact of the coronavirus, in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

"We are not experts in pandemic... We would tend to listen to the experts. Dr. Fauci said something like the virus is going to set the timetable, and that sounds right to me," Powell said, in reference to Anthony Fauci, head of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "The first order of business will be to get the spread of the virus under control and then resume economic activity."

(Reporting by Howard Schneider, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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