As far as Wall Street Bankers, apparently the Economic Council was a conference call that only some could attend and which had little substance.
Let me guess. Trump's plan is to have calls about nothing, then say industry wants a May 1 restart. And that's because he is desperate for the restart for electoral purposes, regardless of the health consequences.
"The White House held a call this morning with top Wall Street titans and other senior bankers and financiers to talk about how to reopen the economy, part of a barrage of phone confabs between President Donald Trump and executives from industries including hospitality, health care, technology, construction, sports and many more.
There was a small problem with the Wall Street call. Actually several problems.
Many of the bankers said they knew nothing about the call until late Tuesday night. Several had quarterly earnings calls this morning that directly conflicted with the timing of the White House summons.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon couldn’t be on the call because of earnings. Neither could JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, though not because of earnings. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan was able to dial in right after his earnings call ended. Another senior executive from JPMorgan attempted to get on the call in Dimon’s place, two people briefed on the call told POLITICO, but couldn’t get through for 20 minutes and finally gave up.
One top executive described the call as a “shit show” that produced little of substance. Trump asked several questions, including to Moynihan about how the small business loan program was going. That program is now slated to run out of money soon.
Trump on the call praised the bravery of Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, who got Covid-19 but recovered. Gorman said his case was relatively mild and tried to deflect the praise.
Several executives called for more Covid-19 testing, something Trump has been hearing for six weeks from anxious governors, health care leaders and lawmakers. And that was pretty much it for the Wall Street conversation, according to people briefed on the call. “It was really nothing,” one person briefed on the call said."
http://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly-coronavirus-special-edition/2020/04/15/closing-time-488927
| 