COVID-19 has dominated headlines this week, and rightfully so. Italy has surpassed China as the worst-hit nation by the virus, and case numbers continuing to grow in the US among expanding testing capabilities and increasing measures across the country to limit the spread, including the entire state of California going on lockdown. Central banks around the globe have been announcing new measures and programs to help capital market liquidity. Most noteworthy, the Fed recently announced increased measures to assist local states and municipalities’ access to capital, as state budgets get squeezed from virus response and declining revenue due to outside economic activity seemingly grinding to a halt. Further, the Fed ramped up its $500B Treasury bond buying program it announced last week and already went through half of that commitment in the first week. Given the ongoing disruptions, it signaled it could likely increase the amount beyond the $500B and opened swap lines with other central banks to help global liquidity. The so-called “Phase 3” fiscal action and stimulus round was unveiled this week in the Senate, calling for roughly $1T expenditures, including direct payments to all Americans, small business loans, industry assistance programs, and guarantees of money market funds. There are still negotiations to be had, but it appears Congress is largely aligned on the big aspects, with the details and specifics to be ironed out.
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