Coronavirus sets off industry scramble for aid from Washington

The Hill logoThe coronavirus outbreak is prompting a wide range of industries and companies to press Washington for financial relief from the economic fallout.

The calls for aid started with airlines, quickly followed by the tourism and entertainment industry and others who are being hit hard as officials close public events and spaces and urge Americans to stay home. The long list of industries seeking help has exploded to include associations representing restaurants, retailers, manufacturers, alcohol distributors and casinos.

CEOs from major trade groups and representatives for companies like Boeing are now aggressively lobbying Congress for relief checks for often staggering amounts. Continue reading.

Investors signal they hate Trump’s “Phase 1” China trade deal

Axios logoWall Street was bursting at the seams with excitement about a trade deal between the U.S. and China — until details of the deal were revealed.

The big picture: China agreed to more than double its annual purchases of U.S. agriculture, up to $50 billion and made yet-to-be-determined concessions on intellectual property rights while the U.S. agreed not to implement its planned Oct. 15 tariffs of 30% on Chinese imports.

What happened: The S&P 500 was flirting with a 2% rise for the day, and then details of the agreement started leaking out and the market’s gains leaked with them.

View the complete October 14 article by Dion Rabouin on the Axios website here.