Federal Reserve Moves To Pump Up Small Business Lending

The last time a serious economic downturn hit in 2008, Evan Schade was in high school and the crisis seemed like a news event that happened to other people. When nonessential businesses were closed last month in Kansas City, Mo., where he lives, Mr. Schade, 26, lost his job at a carpet store and almost all of the shifts in his second job at a coffee shop.

To alleviate that constraint, the U.S. Treasury- whose job it is to manage the government’ s finances and help the Fed keep the economy steady- has taken on some of the risk that Fed loans will not be paid back. Assuming only a fraction of loans will default, the Treasury contribution has allowed the Fed to lend much more without taking on additional risk.

Joe Biden and other Democrats were already talking about health care before the coronavirus, but the outbreak gives new urgency to a central issue for the party. On Monday, Joseph R. Biden Jr. sent a letter to President Trump and Republican state officials that emphasized the sorts of immediate threats Americans are feeling, and criticized those Republicans for…

The extraordinary actions of the Federal Reserve on Monday morning can be boiled down to two sentences: There is a rapidly developing shortage of dollars across the economy. The Fed, the one entity in the world with the power to create dollars out of thin air, has every intention of doing so at whatever magnitude is necessary to try to reduce the severity and limit…

President Trump and some of his senior officials are losing patience with the doctors’ orders. The state of play: Amid dire predictions for jobs and the economy, the White House is beginning to send signals to business that there's light at the end of the tunnel — that the squeeze from nationwide social distancing won't be endless. Trump tweeted at 10 minutes to midnight: “WE…

A week ago, Mark Canlis’ s restaurant in Seattle was offering a $135 tasting menu to a bustling dining room every night. Eileen Hornor’ s inn on the Maine coast was booking rooms for the busy spring graduation season. And Kalena Masching, a real estate agent in California, was fielding multiple offers on a $1.2 million home.

The coronavirus and resulting market chaos have clearly caused clients to worry about the health of their family, themselves and their portfolio. Times like these are when advisors truly earn their keep- to be in communication and help clients stay calm when it’ s too easy to panic. Volatile markets provide the wise advisor with a chance to educate clients on why…

If history is any guide, not much will change in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. During the influenza scourge of 1918, disorder was everywhere: As one American letter writer suggested, “The whole world seems up-side down.” Roughly 1 in 4 Americans caught the disease, and as many as 2.5 percent of them died.

Some auto and homeowners insurance companies are making moves to offer financial assistance to customers.

Government intervention and assurances, from a $50 billion spending package to combat the outbreak in the U.S. to directives from President Trump to “buy the dip” have done little to subdue Wall Street's distress. Even the Federal Reserve taking its most drastic steps to shore up the economy since the 2008 financial crisis was met with outsized volatility, amid…

Investors are rushing into money market funds and corporations have tapped their credit lines.

Now that the Federal Reserve has fired its monetary policy bazooka — announcing Sunday the second emergency interest rate cut in as many weeks, this one taking rates effectively to zero — expect the drumbeat for fiscal stimulus to pick up, as more economists pound the table for government action. Why it matters: Market watchers of all stripes agree that the Fed's tools alone…

Will coronavirus make Joe Biden president? When he launched his presidential campaign 10 months ago, Biden cast himself as a sober, seasoned antidote to the disruptive politics and chaotic style of Donald Trump. The rap against Biden was that he was incurably nostalgic, anachronistic, even out of touch— as when he claimed Republicans would experience “an…

An oil glut and a deadly virus walk into a stock market…. This article is part of the Debatable newsletter. Investors panicked because of two coinciding risks to the global economy, as Neil Irwin explains in The Times: the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and a shock to oil prices sparked by two of the world’ s largest producers.

The past two weeks were among the worst in recent Wall Street history, as anxiety about the coronavirus outbreak gave way to alarm and drove panicked investors to sell their stock holdings, obliterating roughly $2 trillion in wealth. On Friday, even after a slug of good news— the Labor Department reported that 273,000 new jobs were created in the United States…

Bernie Sanders is one of the leading candidates for the Democratic nomination. The national debt is $23.4 trillion, and the projected 2020 national deficit is $1 trillion. Wealth and income inequality are at extraordinary levels and eroding trust in democratic societies according to the United Nations. U.S. life expectancy hasn’ t kept pace with other wealthy…

Robert Shapiro is the chairman of Sonecon, an economic and security-related advisory firm, and was undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs under President Bill Clinton. The Federal Reserve's interest rate cut on Tuesday certainly won't hurt the financial markets or the real economy, but as the subsequent steep drop in stock prices shows, the cut…

The stock market’ s correction was minor. People were just looking for a reason to take their profits. Look past the initial shock, and one thing is clear: Investors’ legitimate concern about the spread of the coronavirus is the best thing to happen to the U.S. stock markets since Donald Trump became president.

Wall Street has often adopted a simple playbook when facing a stock market plunge:“ Buy the dip.” Not lately. But last week, as coronavirus cases turned up around the world and new information kept pouring in— photographs of deserted business districts in Milan, a stark warning from an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday, news that a…

As the stock market dropped again on Friday, Jerome H. Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, issued a short statement affirming that the central bank would use its tools and“ act as appropriate to support the economy.” After the Fed’ s statement, the S&P 500 pared some of its losses, closing the day down 0.8 percent, though the index remained down 11.5 percent for the week.

TAMPA— Windhaven Insurance is closing its Tampa office and laying off 61 employees as of Friday. Windhaven said the move is taking place because of“ a lack of liquidity and capital,” chief restructuring officer Gregory J. Hoeg said in a letter this week to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The Tampa staff, which has worked…

“Senator Sanders’ s Medicare for all push will be a long, long, expensive slog,” Mr. Biden said of the Vermont senator’ s sweeping single-payer proposal.“ Patients can’ t afford to wait. Mr. Biden, who delivered his remarks to cameras, has steadily ramped up the pace and focus of his attacks on Mr. Sanders, reflecting the threat the senator has increasingly posed to Mr. Biden…

WASHINGTON— The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.1% in the final quarter of last year, but damage from the spreading coronavirus is likely depressing growth in the current quarter and for 2020 as a whole. That fears have inflicted the worst losses on U.S. stocks in two years, less than a week after Wall Street was hitting record highs. To try to demonstrate the…

Last summer, President Trump announced that he would nominate Judy Shelton, a conservative economist, to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. The members of the Board of Governors serve on the Federal Open Market Committee, the policymaking body that adjusts interest rates in response to changes in economic conditions.

Decreases in uncompensated care after Medicaid expansion don’t seem to be flowing to other types of community benefit spending.

At a debate in Las Vegas this month, former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg said Sanders needs to disclose “full medical records, do a physical, and release the readout.” Elizabeth Warren, former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar have released comprehensive medical reports.

If we can start from first principles and agree that we really do want the same things, we can work toward consensus.

The Fed looks to be laying the groundwork to lower U.S. interest rates this year, just as they did in April 2019 before cutting rates in July, September and October. Why it matters: A Fed rate cut makes taking on debt more attractive for U.S. consumers and businesses, helping to juice the economy, but also puts the central bank in a weaker position to fight off a potential…

It takes on both cost and quality. This article is part of David Leonhardt’ s newsletter. The United States is suffering from a college dropout crisis, as I’ ve written before.

WASHINGTON—“ They say millennials are lazy,” billboards plastered across 15 major cities declared last summer.“ Retire early and prove them right.”. That sentiment, reflected in ads for the investment manager Prudential, is the stuff of a 30- year-old’ s fantasy— and the Federal Reserve’ s nightmare. A young generation of aggressive savers could leave central bankers…

That story has the cause and effect backward, yet former New York mayor turned presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg has embraced it. In a 2008 speech at Georgetown that recently surfaced, he attributed the collapse to “pressure on banks to make loans to everyone.” “And then Congress got involved— local elected officials as well— and said,' Oh, that's not fair, these…

Judy Shelton, President Trump's nominee for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, appears in danger of rejection by the GOP- controlled Senate after she struggled to defend what one Republican senator called' outlier' views during a confirmation hearing Thursday. She has alarmed many in the financial world by calling for more coordination between the Fed and the…

Republicans have a long, disreputable history of conflating any attempt to improve American lives with the evils of“ socialism.” When Medicare was first proposed, Ronald Reagan called it“ socialized medicine,” and he declared that it would destroy our freedom. He doesn’ t want to nationalize our major industries and replace markets with central planning; he has…

The popular talking points say that the economy is in great shape and getting better daily. It feels good to think that we’ ve“ won” and everything is on the right track: China is going to buy $50 billion worth of agricultural products, and the U.S.- Mexico-Canada Agreement is going to usher in an era of North American prosperity the likes of which we have never seen.

Senator Bernie Sanders emerged victorious from last night’ s New Hampshire Democratic primary, with former Mayor Pete Buttigieg close behind. Why Mr. Sanders may still be beatable. He’ s falling short on his promises of a progressive revolution, writes Ryan Lizza of Politico:. •Mr. Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, the top two moderates in New Hampshire, together…

But hopefully she won't be that bad. Such is the damningly faint praise Senate Republicans have offered President Trump's latest unfit nominee for the Federal Reserve Board, Judy Shelton, ahead of her confirmation hearing Thursday. To be clear: As these senators are aware, there are many reasons why this goldbug and Trump economic adviser would, in fact, be that…

On our radar: L Brands is said to be close to a deal to sell control of Victoria’ s Secret to the investment firm Sycamore Partners.. Silicon Valley is abuzz over a series of tweets from Chamath Palihapitiya, the venture capitalist and provocateur, suggesting that investment firms and start-ups should look more closely at who’ s giving them money.

The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Thursday, with stocks likely to extend the strong upward move seen over the three previous sessions. Continued buying interest may be generated in reaction to news that China plans to cut tariffs on approximately $75 billion worth of U.S. goods in half. A statement from China's Ministry of Finance…

A third straight day of gains on Wall Street on Wednesday raised stocks to a record, as investors took comfort in signs that the American economy was on solid footing despite risks tied to the spread of the coronavirus both inside and outside China. Worried that efforts to contain the virus would dampen growth in China and elsewhere, traders had battered stock…

A former Long Branch woman plotted the murders of her husband and sister 25 years ago and had her son and an acquaintance carry out the killings before collecting $200,000 in life insurance and moving to Florida, prosecutors said during an hour-long detention hearing on Wednesday for the mother and son. In Superior Court in Freehold, Monmouth County Assistant…

He last operated an office called Financial Planners Group of America located in Monroe County, Pa.. The next step is for judge Malachy E. Mannion of the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania to sentence Diaz, but no date for the sentencing has yet been set, said court spokeswoman Dawn Clark. Diaz was charged in an indictment in May 2016 by U.S….

Boeing’ s troubles, trade disruption and a tight job market held back growth last year, and a more subdued expansion appears to lie ahead. Gross domestic product, which measures the value of goods and services produced inside the United States, grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate between October and December, the same as the previous three months, according to…

Wall Street shook off growing fears that a mysterious and fast-moving virus in China could hurt the global economy, even as international markets were hit by those concerns on Thursday. The vast majority of people infected by coronavirus are in China, but governments around the world are taking steps to contain the disease, and the risk to investors is that…

The U.S. government's budget deficit is projected to reach $1.02- trillion in 2020, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, as the federal government continues to spend much more than it collects in tax revenue. Spending for Medicare, which provides health care for older Americans, will rise from $835- billion…

Washington, Wall Street and Main Street are at war over regulatory changes based on a law that requires banks to invest in needy neighborhoods and lend to lower-income consumers. Why it matters: A lot of money is at stake, and neighborhoods across the country could suffer or prosper depending on how (or if) the regulations are changed. Per one regulatory agency, bank loans and…

Investors, who punished stocks in Asia for a second day, are worried that the mysterious epidemic in China could hurt global growth. The pneumonialike illness is spreading, killing 106 people and sickening more 4,500. Health officials in the United States are warning that travelers should avoid nonessential trips to China, while global businesses are…

U.S. stock futures are down sharply this morning on fears about the coronavirus outbreak. •He started the investment firm Bryant Stibel in 2013 with the Web.com founder Jeff Stibel. Bryant Stibel has invested in companies like Dell, Alibaba and Epic Games, the maker of Fortnight.

But on Thursday, Wells Fargo’ s former chief executive John G. Stumpf was fined $17.5 million— the largest individual fine in the history of the bank’ s main federal regulator— for his role in a toxic sales culture that foisted unwanted products and sham bank accounts on millions of customers. In settlements with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Mr….

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump renewed that criticism from the sidelines of an elite gathering in Davos, Switzerland. “No. 1, the Fed was not good,” Mr. Trump told CNBC when asked why economic growth was closer to 2 percent last year. Mr. Trump also pointed to the grounding of Boeing’ s 737 Max plane and severe storms as factors that held back the economy, but added that“ with all of…

DAVOS, Switzerland— President Trump trumpeted what he called “America's extraordinary prosperity” on his watch, taking credit for a soaring stock market, low unemployment and a “blue collar boom” in jobs and income, in a presidential turn on the world stage also meant to make impeachment proceedings in Washington look small. Trump is making his second visit to the…

The Davos crowd has come to like Trump’ s outcomes. As the 50th annual World Economic Forum— the conclave of global business and political leaders— begins today in Davos, Switzerland, Andrew writes in his latest column that the assembly has warmed to President Trump, at least economically. •“Today I’ m proud to say the U.S. is in the midst of an economic boom the likes of…

In 2006, after meeting the deductible, participants paid 25 percent of the negotiated cost of each prescription until the cost of their drugs totaled $2,250. By last year, those thresholds had risen to $3,820 to fall into the gap and $5,100 to climb out. “It was designed that way because Congress had a self-imposed budget target,” said Tricia Neuman, who directs the…

Has the Federal Reserve lost its mojo? Tepid economic growth and low inflation mean they can’ t raise rates, either,’’ The Wall Street Journal’ s Greg Ipwrote last week.“ The U.S. might not be far behind.’’. The Fed remains the most powerful financial­ institution in the world.

Standing against a backdrop of Chinese and American flags, President Trump welcomed by name a roster of corporate executives and Wall Street bankers to the signing of his landmark trade deal with Beijing. Trump's high-profile China deal celebration included billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, a private equity investor; Sheldon Adelson, whose company owns…

Wall Street has been undergoing a radical change of mind. Abrupt end-of-year attitude adjustments are becoming a habit on Wall Street. And, in fact, markets surged in mid-January, as trade tensions between the United States and China ebbed.

What the agreement means for the U.S. and China. President Trump and Vice Premier Liu He of China signed a long-awaited phase-one trade deal at the White House yesterday. •President Xi Jinping of China.

Buyers, their confidence bolstered by sustained job and income growth, have taken advantage of the lowest borrowing costs in almost three years as Federal Reserve policy makers reduced their benchmark rate three times in 2019.. Fresh earnings announcements show order books are growing at builders including Lennar Corp., with its increasing focus on the…

After nearly two years of a bruising trade war, the new U.S.- China trade deal to be signed Wednesday gives President Trump some immediate benefits and allows both sides to put off the most difficult issues. But below the ceremonial veneer of a White House signing event and Trump's extravagant tweets on his achievement, the hard reality of the so-called Phase 1…