More than 3 million jobless Americans asked the United States government for financial assistance last week. That is a record number for one week, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday. The old record had been 695,000 from 1982. This is the beginning of the really bad numbers we are going to see for the next few months, said Subadra Rajappa. She is head of U.S. Rates Strategy at Societe Generale in New York City. Also on Thursday, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, told NBC television that the U.S. may already be in recession, as many companies have suspended operations. Schools, movie theaters and other businesses have closed as Americans turn to social distancing to slow the growth of coronavirus. The central bank chair added that progress in controlling the spread of the coronavirus will decide when the economy can fully reopen.