The Week in Business: We’ve Been Hacked
Everyone Wins, Everyone Loses
Lawmakers raced to iron out the final wrinkles in a much-needed pandemic aid bill and avoid a government shutdown. The latest draft of the $900 billion legislation (which is one-third the size of what Democrats originally proposed last May) includes $600 in payments for individuals, $300 per week in supplemental unemployment payments, and help for small businesses. But it omits significant aid to state and local governments (a major wish-list item for Democrats) as well as legal protections for businesses (which Republicans wanted) worried about liability in spreading the virus.
What’s Next? (Dec. 20-26)
But First, the Tunnel
The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, is not known to offer overly rosy economic projections. But he sounded almost optimistic this past week when he said that a “light at the end of the tunnel” was visible — although he cautioned that the next few months would be hard. He predicted that the economy would start to recover in the second half of 2021, provided that enough people get vaccinated and can resume their normal activities safely. (Such an outcome became even more possible when a second vaccine, from Moderna, received a thumbs-up from the Food and Drug Administration.) To bolster growth and soothe markets, Mr. Powell said the Fed would keep interest rates near zero and continue buying government-backed debt. He also repeated his call for more federal stimulus to provide a financial “bridge” to those who desperately need it this winter.
Calling the Sheriff
Robinhood, a financial app that allows users to trade stocks easily for free, may sound too good to be true, and has raised a number of red flags with regulators. This past Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Robinhood had misled its users about how it was paid by Wall Street firms for passing along trades, and that it had profited at the expense of its customers. Robinhood agreed to pay a $65 million fine to settle the S.E.C.’s charges, without admitting or denying guilt. In a separate case a day earlier, a securities regulator in Massachusetts accused Robinhood of “unscrupulously” encouraging unsophisticated customers to make risky investments.
A Smaller Haul
As the coronavirus picked up speed this fall, it steamrollered job growth, travel plans and holiday spending habits. (Except for Christmas trees. Those are selling at record numbers.) Retail sales ticked down in both October and November, marking a shift from previous months when Americans continued to spend — particularly online — despite economic strife. Of course, earlier this year Americans were bolstered by pandemic aid from the federal government, including stimulus checks and additional unemployment benefits. Now that those funds are running dry, people’s Christmas trees may not have much underneath them this season.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/the-week-in-business-weve-been-hacked.html