Bank analysts say that President Donald Trump’s bid to quickly fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy left by Friday’s death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could end the already remote chance of a pandemic relief package before the Nov. 3 election, Reuters reported. In the meantime, the vacancy is adding uncertainty in an already uncertain environment, a top Fed official told Reuters. “The Supreme Court vacancy is likely to motivate the political base of both parties and will displace the coronavirus and geopolitical tensions with China as a dominant topic in voters’ minds,” UBS economists wrote in a note over the weekend. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to tell lawmakers at three separate hearings on Capitol Hill this week that a new fiscal package is critical to the economy’s recovery. Wall Street’s main indices hit their lowest in nearly seven weeks yesterday, on fresh concerns a package could be delayed. Republicans and Democrats in Congress, already deadlocked over a stimulus package, are now focused on the fight over the Supreme Court vacancy, making a package less likely to pass, analysts at TD Securities wrote in a note yesterday.
