U.S. Covid Costs, Business Optimism, Argentina Recovery: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Tuesday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• The Covid-19 pandemic will exact a $16 trillion toll on the U.S. -- four times the cost of the Great Recession -- when adding the costs of lost lives and health to the direct economic impact, according to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and fellow Harvard University economist David Cutler
• U.S. small-business optimism rose by more than forecast in September and moved in line with pre-pandemic levels as the outlook for the sales and the economy improved
• If the huge monetary stimulus launched in many of the world’s largest economies becomes more permanent, they could face significantly higher rates of inflation once they heal from the wounds of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Bloomberg Economics’ David Powell
• China is cementing its status as the world’s dominant trading nation, confounding warnings that a once in a century pandemic combined with simmering tensions with the U.S. would derail that status
• Negotiators for the International Monetary Fund plan on returning to Argentina next month to kickstart talks on a new funding program after a record $56 billion package failed to lift South America’s second-largest economy out of recession

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