Wall St doubts Fed program can work, Republicans signal less urgency for stimulus bill, and more

House Democrats are ratcheting up pressure to insert financial help for clean energy into any upcoming bills to try to aid the pandemic-ravaged sector, setting up a clash with GOP lawmakers who’ve so far derided attempts to aid renewables as a furtive bid to implement the Green New Deal.

Clean energy groups say the sector has shed 600,000 jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and they are increasingly leaning on their Democratic allies in Congress to deliver assistance beyond the Paycheck Protection Program and small business loans that have already been rolled out.

It has now been almost six months since BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm, made headlines announcing that it would put climate change at the centre of its investment strategy.

In a letter to investors the firm’s founder and chief executive Larry Fink said financial and climate risk had converged and that capital would soon start flowing away from fossil fuel industries.

BlackRock, a Wall Street titan that manages $7 trillion in assets, is facing growing scrutiny over its role at the center of the Federal Reserve’s massive bailout of U.S. corporations — and it's coming from all sides.

The world’s largest asset manager is sparking concern from U.S. lawmakers in both parties on multiple fronts, including over its sheer size and market power, its ties to China, its tough stance against companies that contribute to climate change and the extent to which its own bottom line may benefit from the government programs.

The failure of governments and central banks to set out a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis is threatening to derail vital UN climate talks aimed at staving off global catastrophe, campaigners have warned.

On Friday, the UK and the UN attempted to revive the stalled Cop26 climate talks, with a coalition of businesses committing to a Race for Zero, signing up to reduce their emissions to net zero by mid-century. Close to 1,000 businesses have joined the campaign, including household names such as Rolls-Royce and the food and drink majors Nestlé and Diageo.

The world’s governments and central banks are shifting from rescue to recovery mode as the deepest slump since the Great Depression shows signs of bottoming out.

After rolling out trillions of dollars worth of measures to prevent their economies and markets from collapsing, they are now doubling down with even more spending to backstop a recovery as coronavirus lockdowns ease. In what counts for good news these days, Bloomberg Economics’ global GDP growth tracker showed economies contracted at an annualized rate of 2.3% in May, less than the 4.8% slump in April.

The Federal Reserve is about to launch a $600 billion gambit to save swaths of U.S. businesses and tens of millions of jobs threatened by the coronavirus crisis. Wall Street is far from confident the Fed can pull it off.

At issue is the Main Street Lending Program, a high-stakes juggling act whose success likely hinges on multiple factors: Companies lining up for loans that come with punitive strings attached. Banks lending to risky businesses at rock-bottom interest rates -- meaning lenders’ profits might be minimal or even non-existent. Getting firms that lack access to debt and equity markets back on their feet amid the worst economic downturn in a generation.

Laurence Fink started off 2020 by dropping a big, green bombshell. In his annual letter to corporate executives, the BlackRock Inc. chief executive officer wrote that the world’s largest asset manager would push climate change to the center of its investment process. He also issued a warning, telling businesses to prepare for a “fundamental reshaping of finance.”

Republicans argued Friday that the surprising improvement in the jobless rate is evidence more economic stimulus should remain on hold, raising more questions about whether Congress will be able to agree to another recovery package after bipartisan deals led to a historic level of spending to prop up the economy.

GOP leaders have not ruled out more aid -- and acknowledge another bill is probable -- although nowhere in the size or scope Democrats want.