The downturn’s in the details… At first things looked OK when big banks reported last week: revenue rose at JPM Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citi thanks to inflated credit-card spending, beating forecasts. But the fine print was ugly: bank profits plunged as trading and deal-making activity slowed (think: fewer IPOs), while high interest rates plunged loan demand (think: mortgages). Banks expect it to get worse, so they’ve set aside billions to cover potential losses from loan defaults. Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expects an economic “hurricane.”
The clock’s ticking… Millions of Americans will likely lose their health insurance when President Biden rolls back Covid aid policies (current expiration date: January 11). When corona was declared a public-health emergency, the government injected billions into resources like free testing and hiring more hospital workers. But with the emergency status set to end early next year, nearly 15M Americans could lose subsidized programs like Medicaid, which hit record enrollment during the pandemic. With hospitals already facing staff shortages, treatment could be even harder to get.