(Friday, July 31, 2020; 8:00 p.m. EST) This morning, new figures on the economy were splashed across the full width of front pages of newspapers across the country. But if you have been following our weekly updates, the unprecedented plunge was not news.

Economic activity, also known as gross domestic product (GDP), collapsed at a 32.9% annualized rate last quarter. The consensus forecast of economists before the GDP release Thursday morning by the U.S. Commerce Department had been for a second-quarter plunge of -31.9%.

The GDP collapse was in line with expectations, as measured by The Wall Street Journal's survey of 60 leading economists in early July. Point is, though the plunge was big news three months ago, the off-the charts front-page coverage was out of synch with the financial news investors care about now.