tyb's
Mnuchin pulls plug on some pandemic lending programs that Fed considers essential
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that key pandemic lending programs at the Federal Reserve would expire on Dec. 31, putting the outgoing Trump administration at odds with the central bank and potentially adding stress to the economy as President-elect Joe Biden organizes his administration. In a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Mnuchin said the $455 billion allocated to Treasury under the CARES Act last spring, much of it set aside to support Fed lending to businesses, nonprofits and local governments, should be instead available for Congress to reallocate.
“I am requesting that the Federal Reserve return the unused funds to the Treasury,” Mnuchin said in a letter to Powell, declining to extend programs the central bank has said were critical to assuring credit flowed to all parts of the economy during the worst economic downturn in a century.
The announcement was not expected by Fed officials, who had said this week that the programs should be extended, and told Mnuchin so immediately after his decision was made public.
In an emailed statement, the Fed said it “would prefer that the full suite of emergency facilities established during the coronavirus pandemic continue to serve their important role as a backstop for our still-strained and vulnerable economy.” “I think given where the economy is, and there is so much uncertainty still out there, it is prudent to keep those things open,” Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Bostic is on the shortlist to be Biden’s Treasury secretary.
The announcement could signal potential trouble for the incoming Biden administration. Although the programs were not used extensively, Fed officials felt their presence reassured financial markets and investors that credit would remain available to help businesses, local agencies and even nonprofits through the pandemic downturn. The announcement sent benchmark U.S. Treasury yields and equity index futures lower.
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-fed-mnuchin/update-3-mnuchin-pulls-plug-on-some-pandemic-lending-programs-that-fed-considers-essential-idUSL1N2I52W1
ty bf
been quiet overhead lately
had one 'o these right over the house yesterday…low
Not usual
SAM202 USAF C-40B appears off Ireland after a JBA depart earlier-this AC arrived from a departure of Manama, Bahrain via a ground stop at Shannon Ireland yesterday.
This is a State Dept. AC
SPAR70 USAF G5 on approach for Stuttgart Int'l
This AC departed Bamako, Mali earlier and west to Dakar, Senegal for a ground stop then departed NE
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