Stocks rebound a bit from big losses
NEW YORK — Stocks on Tuesday recouped most of their historic losses from the prior day as hopes rose, faded and then bloomed again on Wall Street that the U.S. government will try to cushion the economic pain from the coronavirus.
The day’s moves were a microcosm of the severe swings that have dominated recent
weeks, and market watchers say they are likely to continue until the number of infections stops accelerating. In the meantime, investors want to see a big, coordinated response from governments and central banks to shore up the virusweakened economy.
The S&P 500 surged as much as 3.7 percent in the morning, only to see the gains evaporate by midday. The index then bounced up and down before turning decisively higher after President Donald Trump pitched his ideas for a break on payroll taxes and other economic relief to Senate Republicans.
By the end of trading, the S&P 500 was up 4.9 percent. It erased three-fifths of Monday’s loss, which was the
sharpest since 2008, when global authorities banded together to rescue the economy from the financial crisis.
The volatility reflected the mood of a market just as preoccupied
with the virus as the rest of the world. Since U.S. stocks set their record high just a few weeks ago, traders have crossed over from dismissing the economic pain created by COVID-19 — thinking it’s similar to the flu and could stay mostly contained in China — to being in thrall to it — worrying that it may cause a worldwide recession.
Court: DOJ to release Mueller probe text
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department must give Congress secret grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, giving the House a significant win in a separation-of-powers clash with the Trump administration.
The three-judge panel said in a 2-1 opinion that the House Judiciary Committee’s need for the material in its investigations of President Donald Trump outweighed the Justice Department’s interests in keeping the testimony secret. The opinion authorizes access to information that Democrats have sought since the conclusion of Mueller’s investigation, enabling lawmakers to review previously-undisclosed details from the two-year Russia probe.
Writing for the majority, Judge Judith Rogers said that
with Mueller himself having “stopped short” of reaching conclusions about Trump’s conduct to avoid stepping on the House’s impeachment power, the committee was able to persuasively argue that it needed access to the underlying grand jury material to make its own determinations.
“Courts must take care not to second-guess the manner in which the House plans to proceed with its impeachment investigation or interfere with the House’s sole power of impeachment,” Rogers wrote, calling the committee’s request for the grand jury material “directly linked to its need to evaluate the conclusions reached and not reached by the Special Counsel.”
House Democrats cheered the opinion, with Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Judiciary Committee chairman, saying the panel “remains committed to holding the President accountable to the rule of law and preventing improper interference in law enforcement investigations.”
Trump pitches tax relief to Congress
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s proposed payroll tax break met with bipartisan resistance Tuesday on Capitol Hill as pressure mounts on the administration and Congress to work more vigorously to contain the coronavirus outbreak
and respond to the financial fallout.
Flanked by his economic team, Trump pitched his economic stimulus ideas privately to wary Senate Republicans on another grueling day in the struggle against expanding infections. Fluctuating stock markets rebounded but communities discovered new cases and the two top Democratic presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, canceled Tuesday primary night rallies in Ohio.
The president’s GOP allies have been cool to additional spending at this stage, especially for cutting taxes that would have to be reimposed later — presumably after the November election. Democrats prefer their own package of low- or no-cost virus testing, unemployment insurance and sick pay for workers struggling to keep paychecks coming as the outbreak disrupts workplaces.
“We’re taking this unbelievably seriously,” Trump said after his meeting at the Capitol. “It will go away, just stay calm.”
Asked why he has not yet been tested for the virus, after having been in close contact with several advisers and members of Congress who are now self-quarantined after exposure, Trump said: “I don’t think it’s a big deal” and “I feel very good.”