The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures issued its third annual update on the state of climate risk disclosure in the final, fervid days of the US presidential campaign. It found that while there has been progress by companies, much more remains to be done. Despite Washington gridlock on federal regulations, voluntary climate disclosures may continue to accelerate and improve.

When the investment story of 2020 is written, it will be a thick volume – a global pandemic, an uncanny rebound in stocks and aggressive interventions by the Fed. But there will also be a chapter on the return of the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC), a deal structure last seen about a decade ago that is enjoying new popularity.

History has a way of repeating itself, particularly in finance. In the last financial crisis a dozen years ago, banks received taxpayer-backed bailouts and paid hefty bonuses to their executives. The uproar was loud and lasting. Now Wall Street seems poised for a repeat, after a massive federal coronavirus stimulus and a liquidity jolt from the Fed fattened the banks’ bottom lines and their bonus reserves.