The Opening Belle

“There will be a bill. The question is: is it in time to pay the November rent -- my goal -- or will it be shortly after,” Pelosi said on MSNBC. “I want people to know that help is on its way. It will be bigger. It will be better. And it will be retroactive.”

 Differences continue to be narrowed on health priorities, including language providing a national strategic testing and contract tracing plan, but more work needs to be done to ensure that schools are the safest places in America for children to learn. (2/3)— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) October 21, 2020 

 ....Should take care of our people. It wasn’t their fault that the Plague came in from China!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2020 

Meadows complained that it’s the administration that’s “advancing this negotiation further and further to Nancy Pelosi’s side of the ledger.” The speaker has made only “small” concessions, he said.

Meadows suggested a compromise could be found, however. “If we can add additional moneys in terms of transportation and onshoring I think there’s a deal to be made,” he said, referring to the White House’s desire for incentives to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.

While officials on both sides warn substantial differences still have to be overcome, they said there are signs of progress.

In a joint set of principles governing the talks published on Wednesday, the U.K. and EU agreed to negotiate on all outstanding issues concurrently and to set up a “small joint secretariat” to work on a consolidated draft of the accord.

Johnson triggered the hiatus on Friday, frustrated at the EU’s unwillingness to work on a legal text, and what he said was its refusal to recognize Britain’s sovereignty, or accept that it would need to compromise.

While EU officials described his decision to walk away as a theatrical gesture, they viewed it as a necessary step for Johnson to be able to sell a compromise to euro-skeptics at home.

On Wednesday, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, moved to address Johnson’s complaints, telling lawmakers in Brussels the EU would acknowledge Britain’s sovereignty, change its negotiating approach, and begin work on the text. Later in the day, he and Frost held a call paving the way for the discussions to resume.

“On the basis of that conversation we are ready to welcome the EU team to London,” Downing Street said in a statement. Even so, “it is clear that significant gaps remain between our positions in the most difficult areas, but we are ready, with the EU, to see if it is possible to bridge them in intensive talks.”

The two biggest roadblocks remain the level competitive playing field and access to British fishing waters. On the former, the EU wants the U.K. to offer concessions, especially on its state aid policy. Johnson needs the EU to soften its demand for the same access to British fishing waters its boats enjoy today.

“Hard work needed,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet. “No time to lose.”

Over half the small and medium-sized companies which together provide jobs for two-thirds of European workers fear for their survival in the coming 12 months, according to a survey released by management consultancy McKinsey on Thursday.

The survey was conducted in August, before the current acceleration in new coronavirus cases across Europe that is forcing governments to impose new restrictions on activity and prompting speculation of fresh national lockdowns.

The finding comes as warnings multiply of an impending wave of business insolvencies and as the International Monetary Fund and others urge the region’s governments to double down on state support to help companies weather the coronavirus pandemic.

The McKinsey survey of more than 2,200 companies in five countries - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain - found that 55% expected to shut down by September next year if their revenues remained at current levels.

At the current trajectory, one in 10 small and medium-sized companies were expected to file bankruptcy within six months.

“This is a substantial burden on the financial sector,” report co-author Zdravko Mladenov said of just one of the knock-on impacts of such a development, which would also send jobless totals surging and stymie wider investment in the economy.

Economists polled by Reuters last month forecast that the euro area economy would grow by just 5.5% next year after a fall of around 8% this year but warned that even that patchy recovery was vulnerable to a further spread of the virus.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are defined as those with 250 or fewer employees.

In Europe, they employ over 90 million people but their small size makes them vulnerable to cash flow crises. In Spain, for example, 83% of the 85,000 businesses that have collapsed since February employ fewer than five workers.

State measures across the region ranging from moratoria on bankruptcies to loan repayment holidays have until now kept thousands of struggling businesses afloat. But as those measures are in some cases wound down, Germany’s Bundesbank and the Bank of England are among those warning of rising insolvencies.

"Policymakers need to do whatever it takes to contain the pandemic and its economic damage, and not withdraw support prematurely to avoid repeating the mistake of the global financial crisis," the IMF said in its blog this week. (Blog: bit.ly/2Hp1sLS)

“For companies, policies now need to go beyond liquidity support and ensure that insolvent but viable firms can remain in business,” it added, citing measures to facilitate debt restructuring or make equity available to viable firms.

 Good Morning from #Germany where the second corona wave w/record new infections shows first negative consequences in the real-time data. Germany is the biggest faller among the big4 European econs this week. Economic activity dropped 4ppt to 73% of normal levels. (via Jefferies) pic.twitter.com/8wiwNN6Yh1— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) October 22, 2020 

 🇨🇳🇺🇸 "Beijing will definitely retaliate, and US media outlets' operation in HK could be included in retaliation list." https://t.co/4gf75qjay8— Shehan R (@ShehanR2) October 21, 2020