US nears approval of $2 trillion stimulus bill: Update

The US Senate is set to vote today on a massive stimulus bill that will provide funds to businesses, airlines and workers struggling from the coronavirus outbreak but excludes targeted help for the oil industry.

Congressional leaders negotiated the bipartisan $2 trillion deal in just five days, as the death toll in the US from the outbreak surpassed 700 and shuttered US businesses laid off what some analysts expect could be millions of workers. The deal would funnel the equivalent of nearly 10pc of US GDP to struggling businesses, states, hospitals and workers through a variety of grants, loans, cash payments and increased government benefits.

US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said the deal would offer billions of dollars in emergency loans to businesses and rush new resources to healthcare facilities already struggling to manage the first wave of coronavirus patients. The agreement is also expected to send direct cash payments to most taxpayers.

"We are going to pass this legislation later today," McConnell said.

But the agreement will not include $3bn that would have gone to purchase 77mn bl of crude to refill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, something President Donald Trump wanted to help oil producers struggling from a collapse in prices. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) touted the removal of the funds in a letter to Democratic colleagues this morning.

"Eliminated $3 billion bailout for big oil," the letter said.

The agreement, text of which has yet to be released, will save "hundreds of thousands of airline industry jobs," Schumer said in the letter. It will also prohibit airlines from stock buybacks and providing bonuses to chief executives. Crucial to the agreement was the inclusion of a Democratic demand for increased oversight of a $500bn fund for businesses, and a prohibition on Trump's hotel and other businesses from receiving loans and investments from those funds.

The prospect of a stimulus deal being reached helped send the US Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 11.4pc yesterday.

By Chris Knight and Kevin Foster