Dec 21, 2020

Bad COVID news appears to outweigh the good for investors

Markets are down on news of new lockdowns and coronavirus mutations. Plus, what's been left out of the coronavirus relief bill, including direct aid for state and local governments and liability protections for businesses.

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COVID-19

What's included in Congress' $900 billion COVID relief bill?

by David Brancaccio , Nancy Marshall-Genzer , Nova Safo , Rose Conlon , Meredith Garretson , Erika Soderstrom and Alex Schroeder

Dec 21, 2020

The headline items are $600 checks to individuals and an additional $300 per week in unemployment benefits for many.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill on Dec. 20, 2020.

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

The near-term coronavirus reality is looking quite challenging

That's according to Julia Coronado, president and co-founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives. "We have a saying in markets called 'buy the rumor, sell the fact.' We've been focused on stimulus for weeks and months. Now that we have it, well, actually, it's not as big as we had expected a few months ago." Combine that with increasing infection rates, a new, more infectious mutation of the virus in the U.K. and other lockdown news, and you see that there's no sure bet on the immediate future. Getting to brighter future of widespread vaccination "still brings a lot of bumps along the road, potentially," Coronado said.

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Music from the episode

Intro The xx

The team

David Brancaccio Host

Victoria Craig Host, BBC

Stephen Ryan Producer, BBC

Jonathan Frewin Producer, BBC

Daniel Shin Producer

Jay Siebold Technical Director

Brian Allison Engineer

Meredith Garretson Producer

Erika Soderstrom Producer/Director

Rose Conlon Producer

Alex Schroeder Producer

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