Weekly jobless claims hit 6.6 million due to coronavirus outbreak, Labor Department says

Another 6.6 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government reported on Thursday, as the economic shutdown due to the coronavirus continued to devastate the labor market.

Claims for the previous week were revised upward to 6.8 million. The three-week total for jobless claims now stands at 16.5 million.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department announced Thursday another $2.3 trillion in stimulus. They established a Main Street Business Lending Program and a Municipal Liquidity Facility to support the flow of credit to American workers, businesses, states, counties, and cities impacted by the pandemic.

“The Main Street Business Lending Program will make a significant difference for the 40,000 medium-sized businesses that employ 35 million Americans,” said Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.

Treasury said small and medium-sized businesses, “through no fault of their own, have faced severe financial strain from widespread closures and liquidity pressures in the financial system.”

Using funds appropriated under the CARES Act, Treasury will make a $75 billion equity investment to implement the Main Street Business Lending Program. This investment will enable up to $600 billion in new financing for businesses with up to 10,000 employees or $2.5 billion in 2019 annual revenues.