SQUAWK BOX, WEDNESDAY 16TH DECEMBER, 2020

There are significant hopes for a U.S. stimulus package after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said lawmakers are honing in on a rescue deal. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett tells CNBC this agreement by Congress is paramount to save small and medium-sized businesses. The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to improve economic forecasts during its December meeting but is likely to stop short of expanding the bond-buying programme. In Europe, the ECB has asked banks to limit dividend payouts until September 2021 but eases restrictions on payouts for lenders across the euro zone. And in tech news, China’s biggest chip maker SMIC sees shares plunge after the co-CEO threatens to resign and the stock is removed from the MSCI index over U.S. blacklisting.