Business Highlights
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Trump signs $484 billion measure to aid employers, hospitals
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed a $484 billion bill that aids employers and hospitals under stress from the coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak has killed more than 50,000 Americans and devastated broad swaths of the economy. The bill is the latest effort by the federal government to help keep afloat businesses that have had to close or dramatically alter their operations as states work to slow the spread of the virus. Easy passage of this aid installment belies a potentially bumpier path ahead for future legislation. Anchoring this bill is the Trump administration’s $250 billion request to replenish a fund to help small- and medium-size businesses with payroll, rent and other expenses.
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Wall Street ends manic week with a gain, led by tech stocks
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose on Wall Street Friday, led by familiar names in technology including Apple. The S&P 500 climbed 1.4%, but still ended the week lower, breaking a two-week winning streak. Stocks meandered between gains and losses for much of the morning, then rose steadily in the afternoon. The calm trading offered a soothing coda to a tumultuous week. From Monday’s astonishing plummet for oil to Thursday’s sudden disappearance of a morning stock rally, markets pinballed as the mood swung from fear to hope and back again amid the coronavirus pandemic. The bond market was quiet Friday, while crude climbed further away from zero.
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Coronavirus relief pushing US deficits to staggering heights
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the lasting legacies of the coronavirus pandemic will be staggering deficits in the United States. The Congressional Budget Office projected Friday that deficits will grow to $3.7 trillion in 2020, fueled largely by the four coronavirus relief laws signed by President Donald Trump. Those bills promise to pile more than $2 trillion onto the $24.6 trillion national debt in just the remaining six months of the current fiscal year. It all adds up to federal debt and deficit figures reaching levels unparalleled since World War II. Those deficits are nearly certain to persist for a generation.
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AP-NORC poll: Most losing jobs to virus think they’ll return
WASHINGTON (AP) — One out of every four American adults say someone in their household has lost a job to the coronavirus pandemic, but the vast majority expect those former jobs will return once the crisis passes. That’s according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Among those whose households have experienced a layoff, about 8 in 10 believe those former jobs will definitely or probably return. Another positive sign in the survey results: The percentage of workers who say their household has lost a source of income due to the virus outbreak is not significantly different from a few weeks ago.
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Pelosi: No more virus bailouts without state and local aid
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insisting that Congress’ next economic package provide billions for financially reeling state and local governments. Her remarks to reporters Friday foreshadow a partisan fight as lawmakers look to their next steps in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has expressed opposition to providing more local help, at least for now. He says that many states running out of money have had budget problems that long predate the pandemic and that he doesn’t want to let states “take advantage” of the crisis to help their coffers. ___
Trump: Postal Service must charge Amazon more, or no loan
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he won’t approve a $10 billion loan for the U.S. Postal Service unless the agency raises charges for Amazon and other big shippers to four to five times current rates. The president addressed reports his administration plans to force major changes in postal operations as the price for approving a $10 billion loan that was included in the government’s $2 trillion economic rescue package. Under the rescue package legislation, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin must approve the loan before the Postal Service can receive the money. Officials at the Postal Service had no immediate reaction to Trump’s comments.
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DraftKings debuts on Wall Street amid sports world lockdown
BOSTON (AP) — Sports daily fantasy and betting website DraftKings has made its stock market debut against a backdrop of a near-complete shutdown of athletic competition across the globe due to the coronavirus pandemic. The gamble appeared to pay off, with the Boston-based company’s shares jumping more than 10%. DraftKings’ move to Wall Street was sealed Thursday after shareholders of a so-called blank-check company, Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., approved a merger. Blank check companies typically are publicly traded but have no operations of their own and aim to acquire or merge with others. The two are also combining with sports gambling platform supplier SBTech.
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The S&P 500 added 38.94 points, or 1.4%, to 2,836.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.01, or 1.1%, to 23,775.25, and the Nasdaq composite added 139.77, or 1.7%, to 8,634.52. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks rose 18.99 points, or 1.6%, to 1,233.05.