Fed's Bullard: 46 million people at risk of layoff in jobs that have high contact with public

Fiscal programs should be thought of as relief rather than stimulus meant to increase production in the second quarter, St. Louis Federal Reserve bank president James Bullard said on Wednesday. 

"We want workers to be healthy and ready to return to work in the second half of the year," Bullard noted. "Perhaps 46 million people are at risk of layoff in jobs that have high contact with the public."

Market reaction

Wall Street main indexes turned south in the last hour and were last seen erasing between 0.15% and 1.4% on the day. 

Additional takeaways

"Hopeful that last quarter 2020 and start of 2021 will be boom quarters."

"Fed is willing to do more but feels focus now is on execution, programs that need to be in place are likely in place."

"Not ruling anything out in terms of further Fed steps."

"Happy that market inflation expectations, though low, have remained positive and do not foresee deflation."

"Tariff relief not likely that helpful in current environment given expected drop in production."