According to a recent report by S&P Global, structured finance issuance and performance in 2021 will be dependent on several pandemic-related factors. These include the impact on global macroeconomic growth and secondary effects to asset prices, market sentiment, interest rates and consumer credit.
With COVID-19 infection rates still high in Europe, there appears to be little prospect of a strong rebound in the early months of 2021 and a risk that the UK will fall back into recession, according to the Wall Street Journal. The European Central Bank estimates that the eurozone economy shrank by 2.2 percent in the final quarter of 2020.
After the onset of the pandemic in 2020, more large U.S. companies filed for bankruptcy than in any year since the global financial crisis. According to Bloomberg data, energy, retail and consumer companies led a total of 244 filings, the most since 2009 when 293 companies filed.
Late yesterday, Monday, December 21, after months of gridlock between Treasury and Congressional leadership, Congress passed a $900 billion bill containing additional COVID-19 relief.
Stocks rose broadly earlier this week in response to both progress toward a pandemic stimulus package and further positive developments on a coronavirus vaccine. Today, December 18, is the deadline for U.S. lawmakers to agree on the stimulus package with positive appraisals so far on both sides.
With several of the Fed’s COVID-19 emergency lending programs expiring at the end of December, there are several possibilities about what could happen next. If no change is made, then any unused funds will be moved into a general fund that is inaccessible to any future Treasury Secretary.
On November 17, the day after announcing he would step down as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the end of 2020, Chairman Jay Clayton made what is likely to be his final appearance testifying before the Senate Banking Committee.
After meeting with businesses and labor groups about the state of the economy, President-elect Biden called on Congress to pass a broad stimulus package similar to the $3.4 trillion "HEROES Act" passed by the House Democratic majority in May.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated yesterday that he believes that Congress should pass a second COVID relief bill by the end of this year. “We need another rescue package
Last Friday, October 30, the Federal Reserve (Fed) made two major changes to their Main Street Lending Program. The first change was a reduction in the minimum loan size available to both profit and non-profit borrowers from $250,000 to $100,000 .
