Daily Times

President Donald Trump’s bid to quickly fill the US Supreme Court vacancy left by Friday’s death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could end the already remote chance of a pandemic relief package before the Nov. 3 election, bank analysts say.

In the meantime, the vacancy is adding uncertainty in an already uncertain environment, a top Fed official told Reuters.

But it may raise the odds of a Democratic sweep in the election, which could clear the way for a bigger stimulus package afterward to fight economic impacts of the coronavirus. “The Supreme Court vacancy is likely to motivate the political base of both parties and will displace the coronavirus and geopolitical tensions with China as a dominant topic in voters’ minds,” UBS economists wrote in a note over the weekend.

If Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate move to install a conservative judge on the highest US court before the election, they wrote, expect “an even more aggressive policy agenda by Democrats” if they retake the Senate and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden beats Trump.