The Race for a Cure
By Brian Hextell
Senior Vice President, 
Institutional Portfolio Manager
PMA Asset Management, LLC
At the same time that the world races to develop a vaccine for the virus responsible for COVID-19, the Federal Reserve, Treasury, Congress and the White House have pumped the U.S. full of medicine to protect households and businesses and avoid a financial crisis. When financial markets nearly came to a halt in mid-March, as investors and the world realized that the global response to the coronavirus pandemic would lead to tremendous strains on businesses and consumers, governments around the world responded with a heavy dose of aggressive actions to relieve some of the pain. For investors, this medicine has worked well as stock and bond prices rose quickly in April and May and credit market functioning improved.