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25 Mar 2020
White House tell Wall Street execs lockdown may last beyond Easter – Fox Business
During a private conference call between top White House officials according to FOX Business, "Trump was appearing to backtrack on comments that he made to FOX when he said he "would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter," which is on April 12.
The news follows a US session whereby a US stimulus package was expected to pass through Congress imminently triggering the Dow Jones Industrial Average to rally more than 2,000 points Tuesday, its highest point gain in a single day since 1933.
Key notes
- "The federal government could actually spend much more than the $2 trillion in economic stimulus to prevent a virus-related economic catastrophe."
- President Trump appears to be revising his plans to end the lockdowns that have crippled the US economy.
- When all the costs of the aid packages are added up, the total could reach as high as $10 trillion or possibly more, people on the call told FOX Business.
- White House indicated that the entire aid package could actually cost between $6 trillion and $10 trillion or more since the Federal Reserve is also pumping as much as $4 trillion through expansive monetary policy.
- Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and economic adviser Larry Kudlow hosted the meeting with about a half dozen Wall Street big shots, including hedge fund investor Ken Griffin of Citadel management, Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of private equity powerhouse the Blackstone Group, and Dan Loeb, the CEO of hedge fund Third Point Capital.
- Also on the call was Jeffrey Sprecher, the CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, Vista Equity Partners CEO Robert Smith, and long-time hedge fund investor Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Capital.
- In an interview with FOX News, Trump said that he "would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter," which is on April 12. But according to people on the call, Trump struck a more circumspect tone, appearing to backtrack on comments he made to FOX."