Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-07-27)

PORTLAND:

CAITLIN

OCHS/REUTERS.

WALLER:

ARAH

SILBIGER/GETTY

IMAGES.

SHELTON:

TOM

WILLIAMS/GETTY

IMAGES.

DATA:

GOLDMAN

SACHS

GLOBAL

INVESTMENT

4 RESEARCH

◼INBRIEF

● TheU.S.

Departmentof

Stateforced

theclosureof

China’sconsulate

in Houston.

● Worldwide,thenumberof

Covid-19casesexceeds

15m

andmorethan619,

havedied.Drugmakers

aroundtheworldare

sprintingtoprepare

vaccines.AstraZeneca,

CanSino,Moderna,Pfizer,

Sinovac,andeventhe

RussianDefenseMinistry

boastedaboutstrongearly

resultsthisweek.

● “My

administration

will stop at

nothing to

save lives.”

● In a unanimous

decision,Egypt’s

Parliamentgave

AbdelFattah

El-Sisia green

lighttointervene

if necessaryin

Libya’scivilwar.

● The Senate Banking

Committee approved two

Trump nominees for the

Federal Reserve Board,

more than five months after

their confirmation hearings.

Christopher

Waller, director of

research at the

St. Louis Fed, and

Judy Shelton, a

onetime advocate

for returning to the gold

standard, now go to the full

Senate for a vote.

● A long-awaitedinquiryin

ParliamentsaidtheBritish

government“actively

avoided”lookinginto

whetherRussiainterfered

in theBrexitreferendum.

PrimeMinisterBoris

Johnsondismissedthe

findingsandrejectedthe

panel’scallfora fullreview

ofthematter.

● Leaders in

the U.S. metto

negotiate the

next roundof

stimulus.

● The EU on July 21 agreed

on stimulus spending of

€750b

($869 billion) to pull it out

of the worst recession in

memory and tighten the

financial bonds holding the

Union’s 27 nations together.

With almost a third of

the funds earmarked to

fight climate change, the

package is the biggest

green stimulus in history.

● Demonstrations continue in Portland,Ore.,despitethearrivalofunbadgedfederal

officers. State and local leaders have demandedthese“secretpolice”withdrawat

once, but the president says he plans tosendthemtomoreU.S.cities.

BloombergBusinessweek By Mark Leydorf

● Many states dropped shutdown restrictions too soon.

Now much of the U.S. is experiencing pandemic whiplash.

Population-weightedshareofstates,by status of Covid-19 restrictions

Onhold Increasing Easing

3/15/20 7/17/

1 00%

50

0

The Egyptian president has warned

the Turkish-backed internationally

recognized government in Tripoli

against attacking eastern commander

Khalifa Haftar in the city of Sirte, the

gateway to Libya’s oil crescent.

On July 21, President Trump held his

first briefing on the pandemic in almost

three months. The coronavirus has

now killed 142,000 Americans, at least

80,000 of them since he last took the

podium to address the crisis.

Washington has until July 31, when the

current expansion of unemployment

benefits expires, to find a solution.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell supports more payments

to individuals and loans for small

businesses. House Speaker Nancy

Pelosi also wants $1 trillion for state

and local governments. President

Trump, meanwhile, is pushing for a

payroll tax holiday. ▷ 26

The same day, July 21, the Justice

Department accused two Chinese

hackers of trying to steal data,

including coronavirus research, from

companies in 11 western nations.

China vowed to retaliate.