Goldman Sachs lifts 2021 US GDP forecast to 6.2% and predicts a COVID-19 vaccine will be 'widely distributed' by mid-2021

Reuters

• Goldman Sachs raised its 2021 US GDP forecast to 6.2% from 5.6%, driven by expectations that at least one COVID-19 vaccine will be "widely distributed" by the end of the second quarter next year.
• To reflect recent labor market data, the bank now projects US unemployment will fall to 6.5% by the end of 2021, down from a previous forecast of 7%.
• Strategists at the bank expect a stimulus deal worth at least $1.5 trillion will "become law by the end of August," despite policymakers' recent failure to ratify the Phase-4 fiscal package. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

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Goldman Sachs has turned more optimistic on the outlook for US economic growth, based on its expectation that an effective COVID-19 vaccine will be "widely distributed" by the middle of next year, and has raised its projections for US GDP  to 6.2% for 2021 from 5.6%.

"We now expect that at least one vaccine will be approved by the end of 2020 and will be widely distributed by the end of 2021 Q2," the bank's strategists, led by chief economist Jan Hatzius, wrote in a note dated August 9.See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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• US economy beats forecasts, adds 1.8 million jobs in July as unemployment rate declines to 10%

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