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After a day of meetings, all parties declared their differences all but irreconcilable. Democrats shot down the idea of a short-term fix for unemployment insurance and the eviction moratorium, which President Trump had announced earlier Wednesday he would support. And the two parties remained far apart on a larger bill, with Democrats standing by their wide-ranging $3 trillion proposal even as Republicans struggled to coalesce around a $1 trillion bill released by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday. Each side said the other was to blame for the failure. Paying the price will be the unemployed at a moment of deep uncertainty and fear, with coronavirus cases spiking and states pulling back on reopening as deaths near 150,000 in the United States. The talks could get back on track in coming days, but the signs Wednesday were not promising. (Werner, Stein, Min Kim and Bade, 7/29)

Republicans are hunting for a backup plan on coronavirus relief as bipartisan negotiations tasked with finding a deal appear to be making no measurable progress. The discussions come as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows have met every day this week with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) but are, in their own words, “nowhere close to deal” and “very far apart.” (Carney, 7/29)

Here's a look at the uphill battle this relief package is facing and why negotiations for this bill are so different than emergency funds that came before it. (Hayes, Wu and King, 7/30)

There are big-ticket funding and philosophical differences between the parties on the next round of coronavirus relief, including on tax policy. But there’s a surprising amount of common ground on a handful of provisions that are likely to serve as the basis for eventual agreement, including on another round of direct payments to individuals, tax credits for companies to keep workers on payroll and aid to families with children. (Sword, 7/30)

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose for the second straight week, a sign economic growth could be stalling in late July. Claims had been on a steady decline after peaking in late March. Initial jobless claims rose by 12,000 to 1.434 million in the week ended July 25, the Labor Department said Thursday. (Robb, 7/30)

The need continues to grow even as an extra $600 a week from the federal government ended last week, a cushion many economists said was critical to bolster state payments that typically average $370. It's the second week in a row that initial claims have gone up--rising by 12,000--a worrying trend in the wake of a 15 week stretch that saw applications gradually declining. (Jones, 7/30)

The U.S. economy saw the biggest plunge in activity it has ever known in the second quarter, though it wasn’t quite as bad as feared.Gross domestic product from April to June plunged 32.9% on an annualized basis, according to the Commerce Department’s first reading on the data released Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a drop of 34.7%. Still, it was the worst drop ever, with the closest previously coming in mid-1921. (Cox, 7/30)

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday that social distancing and other measures meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus are crucial to the U.S. economy’s recovery from the pandemic. During a Wednesday press conference, Powell argued that coronavirus-related restrictions that may seem damaging to the economy are essential to repairing the damage wrought by the pandemic. (Lane, 7/29)