April 2020 | News sentiment can enhance alpha strategies, along with augmenting risk management models for downside protection during periods of crisis. Following a statistical approach, whereby we evaluate thousands of long-short random portfolios as a benchmark, we consider three significant drawdown periods: the Global Financial Crisis, the Chinese market selloff of 2015-16, and the 2020 Coronavirus crisis. We find supporting evidence that: • Sentiment-based strategies consistently outperform random portfolio strategies during the three crisis periods, showing strong statistical significance. • A...

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• EIB highlighted as key to mitigating economic and social impact of COVID • President Hoyer confirms COVID response and climate action priorities for year ahead • Slovakian Finance Minister Eduard Heger to be new chair of EIB Board of Governors European finance ministers today welcomed the European Investment Bank’s EUR 240 billion rapid response to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis across Europe and around the world. EIB COVID-19 response strengthening business resilience, research and public health At the Annual Meeting of...

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June 10, 2020 | By Len Adams CPC, CTS  CEO ACG Resources/Adams Consulting Group, LLC In March, the entire world was turned upside down due to the Covid19 crisis. As it relates to the workforce, companies were in turmoil as shelter in place polices were implemented in most cities and states. Employers that had not previously adopted a WFH policy needed to scramble to set up the proper technology, policies, etc. This may have been especially true for companies in...

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June 08, 2020 | There is no shortage of legislation to address the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic and the emerging contact tracing applications. In late April 2020, Republican senators introduced a bill called the COVID-19 Consumer Data Protection Act that aims to provide consumers more transparency, choice, and control over information collected in connection with COVID-19. Then, in May, Democrats introduced the Public Health Emergency Privacy Act to protect personal information collected in connection with COVID-19. Now, as of June 1, a bipartisan bill—the Exposure...

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Updated July 13 | Government officials across the country are easing up, or preparing to ease up, on the stringent business closures and stay at home orders that helped the nation successfully slow the spread of COVID-19. Each jurisdiction will emerge from this collective state of suspended animation by implementing different measures, and on different timetables. In many instances, businesses can expect two types of guidance from their governors and public health officials: (1) overarching framework materials, setting forth various phases of the...

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By Partner Brian Burke and associate Abdallah Salam (both New York-Litigation) authored this article for the International Bar Association’s Anti-Corruption Committee’s e-bulletin. The article discusses whether and how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can extract anti-corruption enhancements from countries seeking COVID-19 funding. Unprecedented IMF leverage A record number of over 90 countries have requested financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and its colossal economic impact. In response, the IMF has pledged to place its...

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May 26, 2020 | The Lower Chamber of the Dutch Parliament voted in favour of the proposed Act on Confirmation of an Extrajudicial Restructuring Plan ("CERP"), commonly referred to as a 'Dutch scheme' or WHOA (after its Dutch name 'Wet Homologatie Onderhands Akkoord'), on Tuesday 26 May. The bill, which was earmarked by the Dutch government as urgent in view of the impact of COVID-19 on many businesses, will now be sent to the Upper Chamber of Parliament for its...

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May 11, 2020 | Key Insights: • There are three loan facilities available as part of the Main Street Lending Program. • The three facilities have some similarities, but also some key differences to consider. • Organizations can start preparing their strategy for application to the program now. On April 30, 2020, the Federal Reserve released term sheets and a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document as it announced an expanded scope for its Main Street Lending Program (MSLP). In response to more than 2,200...

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May 29, 2020 | In a bipartisan vote, the House of Representatives passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act on May 28, loosening some restrictions on borrowers and making it easier to qualify for loan forgiveness. Under the bill, businesses would be given more time to use the loans and greater flexibility to make needed expenditures and still qualify for forgiveness. The bill was approved, 417-1, and now goes to the Senate. Where the program stands Almost 4.5 million loans totaling $511 billion had...

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June 03, 2020 | On June 3, 2020, Congress passed the PPP Flexibility Act to loosen requirements for loan forgiveness for CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) borrowers. The new forgiveness rules will allow borrowers to extend the period for spending the loan proceeds to 24 weeks from the date of disbursement, an increase from the eight-week period originally required. The PPP program will be extended from June 30, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020. The loan application cutoff date, however, remains...

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