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The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have started the process of sending out the $1,400 direct payments included in President Biden's coronavirus relief law, the agencies said Friday, The Hill reported. The Biden administration has said that people will start to see the payments in their bank accounts as early as this weekend. The IRS said Friday that some people may see the payments in their accounts as pending or provisional in the coming days, ahead of the official payment date of March 17. People will be able to start to check the status of their $1,400 stimulus payments on the IRS's website on Monday, the agency said Friday. Americans will be able to look up the status of their payments using the IRS's "Get My Payment" web tool. The first batch of payments is being sent by direct deposit, and additional tranches will be distributed by direct deposit, paper check and debit cards in the coming weeks. Treasury and IRS officials said they expect people to start receiving paper checks and debit cards before the end of the month. Read more. 

In related news, President Biden is expected to tap Gene Sperling, a veteran of Democratic administrations, to lead the implementation of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law, an administration official said yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sperling led the White House National Economic Council under President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama and served as an informal adviser to Biden’s presidential campaign. Biden is set to give remarks Monday on the implementation of the law, which includes direct payments, an extension of enhanced jobless benefits and an extension of the child tax credit. Last week, he stressed the importance of the next steps, recalling that in 2009, as vice president, he took on a leading role to ensure that the Recovery Act dollars were being deployed effectively. “It’s one thing to pass the American Rescue Plan. It’s going to be another thing to implement it. It’s going to require fastidious oversight to make sure there’s no waste or fraud, and the law does what it’s designed to do,” he said. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

The trustee overseeing Ruby’s Diner Inc.’s chapter 7 proceedings is suing the chain’s co-founders and former officers in Santa Ana, alleging the pair drove the restaurant group into bankruptcy after improperly taking the company’s assets and seeking at least $35 million in damages, MyNewsLA.com reported. The complaint, filed on Thursday in federal bankruptcy court by trustee Richard Marshack, alleges the chain’s insolvency was caused by Douglas Cavanaugh and Ralph Kosmides due to a series of improper decisions. According to the suit, RDI owned and operated the Ruby’s Diner restaurant chain, which Cavanaugh and Kosmides started in Newport Beach in 1982 and grew to include over 40 locations. The company declared bankruptcy in 2018 when it owed over $14 million to its creditors, the suit says. The lawsuit alleges RDI’s insolvency was due to a series of decisions by which Cavanaugh and Kosmides improperly enriched themselves at the expense of the company. Marshack claims that the co-founders used Ruby’s name, expertise, funds and personnel to obtain a lucrative opportunity from the state of California to develop two highly successful restaurants in Crystal Cove State Park: The Beachcomber and The Shake Shack.

Finance chiefs are hiring minority-owned investment banks as underwriters on their corporate bond offerings more frequently, aiming to attract new investors and demonstrate their commitment to diversity, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 10 largest investment banks by deal volume that are owned by minorities, women or veterans took part in 29% of debt sales by U.S. investment-grade companies last year, according to data provider Refinitiv, raising $814.2 billion during a record year for bond offerings overall. That participation level for firms with diverse ownership was an all-time high and up from 22% of debt sales with proceeds of $211.5 billion a decade ago, according to Refinitiv. So far in 2021, the top 10 firms with diverse owners have taken part in bond offerings that raised $136.2 billion, accounting for 43% of proceeds in the U.S. investment-grade market, according to Refinitiv. In the same period in 2020, such firms took part in debt sales that raised $95.1 billion, accounting for 33% of the market, Refinitiv said.

Enhanced unemployment benefits included in the $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief package signed yesterday by President Biden could keep billions of dollars a week in stimulus flowing into the economy through the summer, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plan extends two pandemic-related programs and lengthens supplemental $300 payments to all laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits through early September — well after the effect of $1,400 checks to individuals likely fades. About 20 million people tapped unemployment benefits in mid-February, up from 2 million a year earlier, adding up to more than $10 billion in additional stimulus a week. Some economists say extending extra jobless benefits for nearly 18 months is a disincentive for some people to return to work, preventing industries such as logistics, construction and certain retailers from finding employees as the economy recovers. Other economists say the payments have provided a boost to many lower-income families, who have disproportionately lost jobs in the coronavirus pandemic, while in turn pushing money back into the broader economy. The U.S. had 9.5 million fewer jobs in February than a year earlier, according to the Labor Department. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

In related news, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that direct deposits from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden on Thursday will come as early as this weekend, Reuters reported. With the signing of the stimulus bill, Biden commemorated the one-year anniversary of a U.S. lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic with a measure designed to bring relief to Americans and boost the economy. “People can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend. This is, of course, just the first wave,” Psaki said. Payments to eligible Americans will continue throughout the course of the next several weeks, she added. Nearly 160 million households are expected to get payments, according to White House estimates. The bill includes an expanded child tax credit of up to $3,000 per child, or $3,600 for each child under age 6. The Internal Revenue Service will pay part of that in monthly installments of $250 or $300 from July through December, adding a benefits distributor role to the revenue collection agency’s responsibilities. Read more.

Additionally, the pandemic relief bill that President Biden signed yesterday afternoon will protect tens of thousands of aviation jobs, providing a lifeline to an industry that is likely to struggle for some time even as vaccinations accelerate, the New York Times reported. After Congress this week approved the legislation, which includes $14 billion for airlines and an additional $9 billion for airports and other businesses, American Airlines and United Airlines told 27,000 employees that they could ignore the furlough notices they had received in recent weeks. The airlines had issued the warnings, which are legally required in advance of sweeping cuts, as they prepared to carry out the furloughs at the end of this month when an earlier round of federal aid expired. The new bill extends that assistance through September. The relief package is the third to provide funding to keep airline workers employed since the pandemic began. Last March, Congress provided passenger airlines $25 billion in loans and another $25 billion in payroll grants. It renewed the payroll funding in December with a further $15 billion and again this week. The Biden relief bill also sets aside $1 billion for aviation contractors and $8 billion for airports to help them operate normally, limit the spread of the virus, and pay workers and service their debts. In exchange for the aid, airports, contractors and airlines are prohibited from large layoffs through September and were forced to make other concessions. Read more.

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. said the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and the release of major movies, including Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow”, would boost sales this year, sending the company’s shares up 9%, Reuters reported. AMC’s shares have more than doubled in the last 12 months, with the recent surge coming as a result of being one of the so-called “stonks” — a term used to describe stocks with convoluted prospects that are popular with retail traders on online forums. The health crisis devastated the film industry last year, forcing AMC and its rivals to raise new capital to stay afloat, but analysts polled by Refinitiv expect AMC’s revenue to more than double this year. The cinema chain’s move to implement COVID-19 safety protocols encouraged more than eight million customers to return to its theaters during the fourth quarter, AMC said. AMC added several major releases that were delayed would hit AMC’s big screens May onwards, with films such as “Godzilla vs. Kong”, “Top Gun: Maverick”, “Black Widow” and “F9” expected to boost sales in the coming months.

Americans extracted more cash from their homes through cash-out refinancings in 2020 than in any year since the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. homeowners cashed out $152.7 billion in home equity last year, a 42% increase from 2019 and the most since 2007, according to mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac. It was a blockbuster year for mortgage originations in general as well: Lenders churned out more mortgages than ever in 2020, fueled by about $2.8 trillion in refis, according to mortgage-data firm Black Knight Inc. Some borrowers viewed cash-out refis as a way to cushion themselves against an uncertain economy last year. Others wanted to build and redecorate, and being stuck at home gave them the time to do the paperwork. Homeowners also had more equity available to tap: Though home prices tend to fall during economic downturns, they jumped during the Covid-19 recession. The median existing-home price rose to about $310,000 in December, an increase of almost 13% from December 2019. The acceleration in price growth has spread past cities to suburban and rural areas as Americans re-evaluate where they want to live during and after the pandemic. Cash-out refis got a bad rap after they exploded in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Borrowers tapped their homes like they were ATMs. When home prices plunged, they were left owing more than their homes were worth. Now, in 2021, many economists expect home prices to keep growing.

President Biden on Thursday directed states to ensure that all adults are eligible for a coronavirus vaccine by May 1, and he declared a goal of allowing small celebrations on July 4, setting up significant landmarks in the effort to return to normalcy after the devastating pandemic, the Washington Post reported. Speaking from the East Room of the White House in his first prime-time address, Biden sought to hit hopeful notes as he ticked through a series of new actions he intends to take to combat the virus in the spring and summer. His new initiatives include creating a “find a vaccination” website and allowing dentists, veterinarians and other health professionals to administer doses. “If we do our part, if we do this together, by July Fourth, there’s a good chance you, your family and friends can gather in your backyard and have a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day,” Biden said. A few moments later, Biden added a caveat: “A lot can happen. Conditions can change. The scientists have made clear that things may get worse again as new variants of the virus spread.”