Reuters
Reuters

NEW YORK/LONDON/MILAN/MELBOURNE (Reuters Breakingviews) – Corona Capital is a column updated throughout the day by Breakingviews columnists around the world with short, sharp pandemic-related insights.

LATEST

– Central bankers

– Icon Health & Fitness

FISCAL KNUCKLE-RAPPING. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a mild rebuke to squabbling Washington lawmakers on Tuesday. While praising the fiscal stimulus as Covid-19 plunged the United States into recession, he effectively said they needed to do more to avoid a “tragic” reversal of progress. Listen up, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

One way Powell expressed this in Fedspeak was by saying “the risks of policy intervention are still asymmetric.” At least he clarified that, adding the dangers of overdoing stimulus seem smaller than those from providing too little support. It’s a theme echoed the same day by European Central Bank executive board member Philip Lane