Economic stimulus

• Several Republican senators denounced the $1.8 trillion economic relief proposal from the Trump administration in a call with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to several people who participated in the call, while at the same time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) released a letter to House Democrats that said the White House’s proposal didn’t include enough aid in the form of unemployment insurance, help to state and local governments and for child care. Meadows at one point told those on the call that “you all will have to come to my funeral” when mentioning that he would have to deliver the message back to President Donald Trump.

Banks

• The Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued separate consent orders to Citigroup Inc. over “significant ongoing deficiencies” in the bank’s risk-management systems, fining the bank $400 million. The consent orders require the bank to create a new board committee to oversee the overhaul of risk-management systems and to produce plans to hold managers accountable, while the OCC consent order requires the bank to get approval for any acquisition and allow the regulator to force the bank to replace managers or directors. 

• Bank of America Corp. said it will offer short-term loans to customers who have had checking accounts for more than a year, lending as much as $500 for a flat $5 fee. Kevin Condon, senior vice president for consumer-deposit and small-business products, said Bank of America wants customers to “ stay within mainstream banking” if they need to access short-term loans, nodding to concern among consumer advocates that customers would need to rely on payday lenders amid the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic. 

• Wells Fargo & Co., along with Microsoft Corp., has received letters from the U.S. Labor Department asking how the companies’ initiatives to double their number of Black leaders complies with laws that limit the consideration of race in employment. Both companies said they were confident that their efforts comply with employment rules.

• Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, formally announced that he won’t run for re-election, or pursue a gubernatorial bid in Pennsylvania. Toomey said he is “cautiously optimistic” that Republicans will retain control of the Senate in the 2020 elections, which would make him chair of the Senate Banking Committee for his last two years in Congress.

Economy

• Fed officials were divided on how to apply a new policy strategy in their September meeting, with discussions on how they would at some point need to better explain their intentions around purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities and some disagreement on how to make their low-rate strategy more explicit, according to newly released minutes from the meeting. Economic projections released at the meeting show that officials expected stronger economic recovery this year compared to their thoughts in June, although “the pace of the recovery could be slower than anticipated” if “future fiscal support was significantly smaller or arrived significantly later than they expected.”

• The U.S. budget deficit tripled in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to a new Congressional Budget Office estimate, widening to $3.1 trillion from $984 billion. Receipts dropped 1 percent to $3.4 trillion, while outlays rose 47 percent to $6.5 trillion.

• The Senate and the House are scheduled to be in state and district work periods.

• The Institute for International Finance will hold its annual membership meeting Monday-Friday, featuring comments from Jared Bernstein, former chief economist to then-Vice President Joe Biden, on Monday, Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Richard Clarida on Wednesday, and Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles on Thursday. Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Laurence Fink will speak on Friday.

• Quarles will also speak at the the Hoover Institute for Monetary Policy in its virtual series on Wednesday.

1) Pope: Market capitalism has failed in pandemic, needs reform
Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

2) Microsoft, Wells Fargo Diversity Plans Draw U.S. Labor Inquiry
Diana Bass et al., Bloomberg

3) Regulators Fine Citigroup $400 Million Over ‘Serious Ongoing Deficiencies’
David Benoit, The Wall Street Journal

4) Hispanic American Incomes Are Rising Faster Than Anybody Else’s
Noah Smith, Bloomberg

5) Coronavirus relief deal elusive as Pelosi says Democrats await agreement from the administration
Erica Werner, The Washington Post

6) Why Biden Would Start Tax Increases at $400,000 a Year
Richard Rubin, The Wall Street Journal

7) ‘Doomed to fail’: Why a $4 trillion bailout couldn’t revive the American economy
Peter Whoriskey et al., The Washington Post

8) U.S. Explores Curbs on Ant Group, Tencent Payment Systems
Nick Wadhams et al., Bloomberg

9) Wall Street’s regulatory gains set to stand even under Biden
Peter Schroeder and Michelle Price, Reuters

10) The debt is huge because Trump kept his promises
Maya MacGuineas, The Washington Post