Wall Street Doubts Fed’s $600 Billion Lending Plan Can Succeed
- Industry questions strings attached to ‘Main Street’ program
- Fed funding effort targets medium-sized U.S. businesses
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The Federal Reserve is about to launch a $600 billion gambit to save swaths of U.S. businesses and tens of millions of jobs threatened by the coronavirus crisis. Wall Street is far from confident the Fed can pull it off.
At issue is the Main Street Lending Program, a high-stakes juggling act whose success likely hinges on multiple factors: Companies lining up for loans that come with punitive strings attached. Banks lending to risky businesses at rock-bottom interest rates -- meaning lenders’ profits might be minimal or even non-existent. Getting firms that lack access to debt and equity markets back on their feet amid the worst economic downturn in a generation.