The daily business briefing: October 7, 2020
1.
President Trump on Tuesday halted negotiations on a new round of coronavirus relief, saying he would not agree to a deal until “after I win” the November election. “[House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi is asking for $2.4 Trillion Dollars to bailout poorly run, high crime, Democrat States, money that is in no way related to COVID-19,” Trump said of the $2.2 trillion package House Democrats approved last week. “We made a very generous offer of $1.6 Trillion Dollars and, as usual, she is not negotiating in good faith.” Trump said he had told Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to “instead focus full time on approving my outstanding nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett.” He later backtracked, tweeting that Congress should “IMMEDIATELY Approve” a new round of stimulus checks, as well as aid to prevent airline layoffs and revive a lapsed loan program for small businesses. [NBC News, The New York Times]
2.
The Food and Drug Administration informed coronavirus vaccine developers that they would have to follow its strict guidelines to receive emergency authorization. The White House budget office approved the rules in an abrupt reversal a day after The New York Times reported that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows had been holding them up for weeks. The standards require vaccine developers to monitor half of the participants in clinical trials for at least two months after their final dose of the vaccine or placebo before applying for emergency authorization, making it highly unlikely a vaccine will be approved by the November election as President Trump wants. Trump tweeted his displeasure on Tuesday evening, saying: “New F.D.A. Rules make it more difficult for them to speed up vaccines for approval before Election Day. Just another political hit job!” [Politico, The New York Times]
3.
The Democratic-led House Antitrust Subcommittee said in a report released Tuesday that Congress should consider breaking up Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple, accusing the tech giants of using their market dominance to crush competition. The report says the dominance of the internet leaders is stifling innovation. Republicans issued a separate response, supporting strong antitrust actions but not the ones recommended by Democrats. Republicans also accused the tech leaders of anti-conservative bias. The report did not propose new laws, but appeared to increase the likelihood of increased pressure from lawmakers against the companies. Amazon disputed the report’s allegations. “The presumption that success can only be the result of anti-competitive behavior is simply wrong,” it said in a blog post. [The Wall Street Journal]
4.
U.S. stock index futures turned higher early Wednesday after President Trump appeared to back away from his call to halt discussion of coronavirus relief until after Election Day. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq were up by about 0.5 percent several hours before the opening bell. The Dow and the S&P 500 dropped by more than 1 percent on Tuesday after Trump said Democrats weren’t negotiating in good faith and called for suspending talks on a new round of coronavirus relief until after the election, which he said he would win. But later Tuesday he tweeted that Congress should pass a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks to individuals as well as loans for small businesses and support to help airlines avoid looming layoffs, all key components of proposed relief packages. [CNBC]
5.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned Tuesday that the economy’s rebound from the coronavirus-induced recession could stall without more support from the federal government. “Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses,” Powell said in a speech delivered to an economic conference. Powell added that a slowdown in the recovery could cause a “tragic” worsening of existing inequalities. He said stimulus efforts such as expanded unemployment benefits, checks to U.S. households, and loans for small businesses helped prevent a “downward spiral,” but the economy could still take a turn for the worse because “weakness feeds on weakness.” He added that spending too much would not hurt, because the money would “not go to waste.” [CBS News]
More stories from theweek.com
President Superspreader
Trump is finally doubling down on COVID skepticism
5 worrying red flags from Trump’s doctor
