The daily business briefing: September 22 , 2020

1. Democrats unveil bill to avoid shutdown, McConnell rejects it

House Democrats on Monday released a bill seeking to fund the government until Dec. 11. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Democrats wanted to get the legislation approved before the Sept. 30 deadline to "avert a catastrophic shutdown in the middle of the ongoing pandemic." But the bill did not include additional farm aid Republicans want. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the Democrats' proposal was not acceptable to the GOP. He tweeted that it "shamefully leaves out key relief and support that American farmers need. This is no time to add insult to injury and defund help for farmers and rural America." The potential impasse came as tensions are mounting on Capitol Hill over filling the seat of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

CNBC

2. 8.7 million eligible Americans might not get their relief checks

About 8.7 million Americans could miss out on $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks due to gaps in IRS and Treasury Department records, according to a Monday report from the General Accounting Office, Congress' auditing arm. The Treasury Department said in April that it lacked data on 14 million eligible people who don't file tax returns or receive federal benefits. At least 5.3 million of those people used an IRS tool through July to apply for the stimulus checks, meaning 8.7 million might not be in the pipeline to receive checks as the Sept. 30 deadline approaches, according to the GAO report. As of Monday, Treasury and the IRS had not updated the number of eligible people who had not received the payments. Without the update, it is impossible to "target outreach and communication efforts to individuals who may be eligible for a payment," the GAO said.

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Forbes GAO

3. U.S. household wealth reaches record high despite job losses

The wealth of American households increased to a record high in the last quarter as the stock market rebounded from its March dive early in the coronavirus crisis, the Federal Reserve reported Monday. The net worth of U.S. households rose by nearly 7 percent to $119 trillion from April through June. The gains came even though tens of millions of people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The recovery of the wealth while half of the lost jobs have yet to return signals rising inequality. "High-income workers not only have jobs that for the most part have come back; they also have savings that have continued to grow," said Brown University economist John Friedman, co-director of Opportunity Insights.

The Associated Press

4. Microsoft boosts Xbox with $7.5 billion ZeniMax acquisition

Microsoft on Monday announced a $7.5 billion deal to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda has released games in wildly popular franchises including Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom. The acquisition is Microsoft's largest video game purchase ever, Bloomberg reported. The deal surpasses the $2.5 billion the company paid in 2014 for Mojang, the creator of Minecraft. In fact, it's one of Microsoft's biggest-ever acquisitions of any kind, behind only its $8.5 billion purchase of Skype and $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn. Microsoft is preparing to debut its new Xbox line this November and is looking to bring more customers into its Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

Bloomberg Variety

5. Stocks show signs of stabilizing after Monday's losses

U.S. stock futures struggled to stabilize early Tuesday after opening the week with losses. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down by 0.2 percent and those of the S&P 500 were flat several hours before the opening bell. Nasdaq futures were up by 0.4 percent. The Dow lost 1.8 percent on Monday in its worst day since Sept. 8. The S&P 500 dropped by 1.2 percent, capping its first four-day losing streak since February. The Nasdaq fell by 0.1 percent. The losses extended a September sell-off that came as many big tech companies gave back some of the gains that made them market leaders over the summer, fueling a comeback from coronavirus-induced losses in March. Reports that Britain was considering another national lockdown due to rising coronavirus infections fueled investor caution.

CNBC