Great unhappiness among democrats over republican coronavirus economic relief bill

Democratic US Senator Warren says that there is 'great unhappiness' among democrats over republican coronavirus economic relief bill as both the Republicans and Democrats in the US Senate scramble to complete a deal on a $1 trillion-plus bill aimed at stemming the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout for workers, industries and small businesses.

However, there are no signs of an overarching deal between negotiators, despite Republicans' claims of bipartisan agreement on specific issues including unemployment insurance and small business assistance. "The past two days of intense bipartisan talks are very close to a resolution," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Market implications

The White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow was reported to be expecting the final legislative package to be worth $1.3 trillion to $1.4 trillion to combat the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. While the stimulus measures should help to stabilise markets, at some stage, there is a fear of a spike in unemployment and bankruptcies as the economy falters and markets are bound to lower levels in a risk-off environment as the virus continues to spread around the world, effectively shutting the global economy down, country by country.