Leader McConnell Kills $2,000 Checks

Majority leader Mitch McConnell wrapped the President’s proposed $2,000 stimulus checks with two hot-button issues, in what appears to be a poison pill of a proposal. Shortly before adjourning the Senate on Tuesday afternoon, the Leader introduced a bill that would combine the (House-approved) increased direct payments with 1. the repeal of online liability protections known as section 230, and 2. the establishment of a commission to study voter fraud. The latter two issues have been touted by POTUS for weeks, but now lack universal support among Senate Republicans and have little support among House Democrats.

McConnell stated the he would not be “bullied” into action despite pressure from President Trump, House Democrats and even some Senate Republicans. Tuesday, the House passed a stimulus bill that would have raised the $600 payments to $2,000.

“The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats’ rich friends who don’t need the help,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell

On Sunday, POTUS signed into law a $900 billion economic relief package that would send $600 stimulus checks to more than 100 million Americans. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats urged McConnell to bring the House bill to the Senate floor for a vote, arguing that a weakening economy and raging pandemic are creating enormous hardship for millions of Americans. “At the very least, the Senate deserves the opportunity for an up-or-down vote,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), as he took the floor to blast McConnell in a speech.

Stocks held levels just fractionally below the all-time highs set Monday and Tuesday. With one day to trade, the S&P 500 is poised to log a 15% gain for 2020, the Russell 2000 a 19% gain, and the NASDAQ Composite a 43% gain. The yield of the 10-Year Treasury fell from 1.92% to 0.93% in 2020.

The Impact of Fees

It is important to consider fees with any investment opportunity. Over time a higher-fee investment may lose ground to its lower-fee counterpart.

To look at the impact of fees, we chose two physically backed precious metal exchange-traded funds: SIVR is the Aberdeen Standard Physical Silver ETF, with $825 million under management, and an annual fee of 0.30%; and SLV is the iShares Silver Trust ETF, with $14 billion under management, and an annual fee of 0.50%.

We graphed the ratio of SIVR and SLV over a 10-year period.  Each fund does a fine job of tracking the price of Silver and of tracking the other fund.

At the start of 2011, the ratio (SIVR / SLV) was 101.8%.  Today the ratio is almost 103.9%. Over 10-years, the ratio has gained 2.1%, or 0.21% per year. As SIVR has a lower fee (0.30% vs. 0.50%) its performance has been superior to that of SLV by the exact difference in fees. For a hypothetical $100,000 investment, the difference would have been $2,000, with SIVR being the better performer.

The folks at iShares (Blackrock) do more advertising than the folks at Aberdeen Standard. SLV is 17-times larger by AUM than SIVR, so it may offer better liquidity. When we checked the two markets at 11:00 am on 12/29, we found the following:

The market for SLV is $0.01 narrower and the quantities bid-for and offered are substantially (15 times) larger. The $0.01 difference in spread amounts to just 0.04% (4 bps) however. This might be important for a very large investor or for a high frequency trader, but probably not for a long-term investor.

Before you make an investment in a fund or ETF, you should look at similar investment alternatives, and consider their fees and liquidity, relative to your needs.

Blackrock purchased iShares from Barclay’s in 2009.

Aberdeen Standard is the investment management arm of Standard Life Aberdeen, founded in 1825.

Disclaimer: It is important to note that past performance is not indicative of future results.

POTUS Taps the Brakes, and Demands More From Congress!

In an unexpected plot twist, the fifth-round coronavirus aid package, which appeared to be a done deal, has hit a last minute road block with President Trump demanding Congress amend the legislation.

After the House passed the $900B package in a 359 to 53 vote and the Senate approved the package 92 to 6, it was assumed that the President would sign the deal into law. In a surprise video announcement on Tuesday night, the President called the package a “disgrace” and demanded changes to the bipartisan legislation. President Trump specifically took aim at funding headed overseas, and direct payments to individuals and families.

“I am asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple,” Trump declared. “I’m also asking Congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation.”

President Donald J. Trump on Twitter

If the President vetoes the legislation, the House and Senate could vote to override Trump’s decision. After all, the bill passed with a veto-proof majority in Congress. The process, however, would certainly delay the outflow of funds, and fall short of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s promise that stimulus checks could begin reaching American households next week. Stay tuned.