China should be held accountable for its role in the coronavirus pandemic, but the United States must also take responsibility, Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass said....
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. homeowners hurt by coronavirus were told they could delay their mortgage payments without facing consequences. Now, some are learning they’re at risk of being shut out of the housing market.The snafu has been triggered by the hastily drafted $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that Congress passed in March. The law allowed borrowers with government-backed loans to postpone payments for as long as 12 months if they’re dealing with financial hardships stemming from the pandemic. It even specified that mortgage firms must report homeowners in forbearance as being “current” on payments, thus preventing any damage to their credit scores.But the law didn’t address long-standing policies that restrict consumers from getting new loans for a year after their forbearances end. For instance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the government-controlled companies that facilitate nearly half of U.S. home lending -- won’t buy such mortgages.Some borrowers who took advantage of the relief...
(Bloomberg) -- Oil rose as Saudi Aramco slashed its sales to key buyers and the IEA said that the market is showing signs of improving.Futures in New York added as much as 4.4%. Saudi Aramco cut sales to the U.S. and Europe by about half and reduced supplies to at least 12 customers in Asia for June as OPEC and its allies curb daily output by almost 10 million barrels. The International Energy Agency said the outlook for global oil markets has improved as demand firms.In a sign that output cuts are starting to take hold, key gauges of market strength are rallying. The price difference between Brent’s two nearest contracts have reached their narrowest in almost two months, signalling the oversupply is reducing. Dated Brent, which prices more than two-thirds of the world’s oil, was assessed by S&P Global Platts at $28 a barrel on Wednesday, up almost $10 from...
