Brian Chappatta, Columnist

Bond Traders Dare to Bet on a Fiscal Bridge to Vaccine

Treasuries indicate hope that Congress will address the current strains on the U.S. economy.

December 1, 2020 at 8:50 PM UTC

Brian Chappatta is managing editor of Bloomberg News' leveraged finance and distressed debt teams. He was previously managing editor and team leader of its wealth group. Before that he was a Bloomberg Opinion markets and finance columnist and a bonds reporter for Bloomberg News.

Selling bridges.
Photographer: Al Drago/AFP/Getty Images

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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spent so much time in front of the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday talking about bridges, you’d be forgiven for thinking that “Infrastructure Week” had arrived at last.

Powell has turned to his tried and true analogy time and again over the course of the past several months in making the argument for additional fiscal stimulus from Congress. His point is that unemployed workers, small businesses and state and local governments need money now to get through the next few months, during which many areas of the economy will be closed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Powell acknowledged that the latest vaccine developments are “very positive for the medium term” but cautioned that the path directly ahead could be rocky.