Thought Of The Week U.S Infrastructure Plan, VIX Returns to Pre-Pandemic Stocks climbed to an all-time high this week after U.S President Biden agreed to a bipartisan $579 billion infrastructure deal which includes investments in transportation, water and broadband. Economically sensitive shares such as financials and energy led gains in the S&P 500 since they stand to benefit the most from a rebound in activity. However, this “spending” is more of a redistribution of existing federal funds that were unspent from previous packages (which markets have already assumed that would be spent) rather than a stimulus. It is also uncertain whether this bipartisan legislation will pass Congress since it will be moving alongside a more massive secondary bill that requires spending trillions more on what Biden called “human infrastructure” which the Republicans oppose. Given Democrats’ thin majorities in Congress, the passage is likely to be a slow and difficult...