Next week we will end the 3rd quarter of the year. Combined with the quarter before, this has been the most tumultuous time in our economy in anyone's living memory.
Beginning last March, State and local Governments began to shut down entire sectors of the economy, in response to the spreading Pandemic.
This resulted in the biggest drop in our nation's output ever recorded. Shattering all records, including the records of the Great Depression of the 1930's this presented a real challenge for the two principal economic models that are designed to keep track of such things.
Both models are designed, and published by two Regional Branches of the Federal Reserve Board. The oldest model is the Nowcast of the Nations Gross Domestic Product, the broadest measure of the economy. And the most recent new model is the GDP Now Model presented by the Atlanta Fed.