- The Fed in March unveiled lending programs it said could provide $2.3 trillion to the economy. So far, that has totaled just $143 billion, or 6.2% of the total firepower.
- There are several likely explanations for why what was supposed to be an infusion of cash into the economy instead has been a comparative trickle.
- The programs, particularly the Main Street lending initiative, are complicated. There also may be less of a need as the economy improves.
- “There are also early signs that demand for the new facilities has been relatively muted, perhaps because the terms on offer have proved relatively unattractive,” said economist Andrew Hunter of Capital Economics.
Exxon Mobil erased almost every drop of oil-sands crude from its books in a sweeping revision of worldwide reserves to depths never before seen in the company’s modern history.
Exxon counted the equivalent of 15.2 billion barrels of reserves as of Dec. 31, down from 22.44 billion a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday. The company’s reserves of the dense, heavy crude extracted from Western Canada’s sandy bogs dropped by 98%. Source World OIl
German construction and engineering group Bilfinger has withdrawn from work related to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, German tabloid Bild reported, citing letters it has obtained. Source World Pipelines
Spain’s public debt ended 2020 at 117.1% of gross domestic product as the coronavirus pandemic and the measures imposed to curb it lifted borrowing and led to a deep economic contraction, the Bank of Spain said on Wednesday. Source Reuters
