Mortgage credit availability increased by 2.2% in April as mortgage lenders fight for borrowers in an increasingly competitive market. The Mortgage Bankers Association said Tuesday that the Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI) — which uses 100 as a benchmark — increased to 128.1 last month. A decline in the MCAI suggests that lending standards are tightening […]
Summary List Placement The picture of American employment — and unemployment — is a confusing one right now. Some employers say there’s a rampant labor shortage in sectors of the economy such as restaurants, with workers opting to remain on generous unemployment benefits instead of returning to work. The April jobs report on Friday showed […]
Summary List Placement Last week’s jobs report fell significantly short of expectations, adding just 266,000 jobs to the US economy when economists had predicted 1 million. Small businesses are no exception. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s largest small business association, released a report on Tuesday that found that while small business optimism […]
Summary List Placement Wealthy millennials are busy booking tickets and packing their bags. High-income millennials are set to drive the post-pandemic travel boom, according to a new survey from Accenture and TripAdvisor that polled 1,000 Americans. It defined millennial high earners as those raking in at least $100,000 a year. This cohort is most likely […]
The special purpose acquisition company market isn’t dead yet, apparently. SoftBank Group-backed digital lender Better.com plans to make its public debut in the fourth quarter of 2021 via SPAC, in a deal that would value the company at nearly $8 billion, the firm said Tuesday. Better.com, which offers mortgage, real estate, title and homeowner insurance […]
Summary List Placement At the beginning of the pandemic, California Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted his state would end up with a deficit of $54 billion. Instead it has a $75 billion surplus, and that could mean stimulus payments for Californians. On Monday, Newsom announced that California has a $75 billion budget surplus which he plans […]
Summary List Placement Job openings grew to record highs in the US in March amid continued vaccination and fresh stimulus. The data shows businesses reopening along with the country, yet last Friday’s jobs report for April indicated employers have since had trouble filling those jobs. Openings rose to 8.1 million from 7.5 million, according to Job […]
Publicly traded retail mortgage lender Guild Holdings is on the hunt for acquisitions, and it’s found a juicy target in Maine-headquartered retail lender Residential Mortgage Services Holdings. The acquisition of RMS for $196.7 million (3.5x earnings) gives Guild a substantial foothold in the Northeast and a bevy of purchase business. RMS, founded in 1991, has […]
The parent company of United Wholesale Mortgage reported $860 million in net income during the first quarter of 2021, but there are clear signs that the going has already gotten tough. In total, UWM originated $49.1 billion in closed loan volume in the first quarter, down from the $54.7 billion in the fourth quarter (but […]
Lending and services platform Finance of America Inc. announced today the launch of Finance of America Home Improvement, a new business division offering non-mortgage financing options, including renovation loans. Finance of America’s new division offers the “Benji” portal, which gives contractors tools to expand their business. Homeowners can also use it to access financing solutions through […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden announced in a speech on Monday that Americans currently receiving unemployment benefits must either take a job that is “suitable” or lose their benefits, encouraging states to reinstate a pre-pandemic policy of requiring people to search for work. “We’re going to make it clear that anyone collecting unemployment who […]
The downward trend of borrowers in forbearance picked up speed in the last week of April, falling 11 basis points to 4.36% of servicers’ portfolio volume, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This 10th consecutive week of decreases reflects a faster rate of exits and a steady, low level of new requests. Given forbearance numbers […]
Summary List Placement Companies are gearing up for a spending rebound as the economy emerges from its year-long lockdown, and that’s going to require a whole lot of hiring. But the country added just 266,000 jobs in April, kicking a debate about a “labor shortage” up a notch and suggesting that many unemployed Americans aren’t […]
Summary List Placement Now that President Joe Biden has unveiled both parts of his $4 trillion infrastructure plan, the hard part begins — attempting to get both sides of the aisle on board to pass the massive spending package. Biden’s $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and $1.8 trillion American Families Plan include funding for not […]
Summary List Placement As demand for houses as far exceeded housing inventory during the pandemic, the average price of a home soared a record 21% in April compared to the same time last year, according to a Friday report from Redfin, a real estate brokerage. It also found that houses spent an average of 19 […]
Summary List Placement The US Department of Agriculture announced on April 20 that it would extend the pandemic-era free school lunch program through spring of 2022. But some Democrats say that extension isn’t enough, and they want free school meals to be a permanent option to combat child hunger. On Friday, Sens. Bernie Sanders of […]
In 2013, George Ralph Elliott applied to refinance his Ohio home ahead of a separation from his fourth wife, claiming both his monthly rental income and the spousal support he would soon receive. He didn’t know it at the time, but Elliott’s application would later test a relatively obscure banking law – the CFPB’s Ability To […]
Summary List Placement The dollar has fallen sharply in recent days and is now back close to where it began the year after a weak jobs report knocked confidence in the US recovery. Many analysts now expect the dollar’s weakness to continue, as recovering economies around the world draw investment away from the US, and […]
Summary List Placement Dan Loeb underscored the value of SPACs in his recent investor letter. The Third Point chief’s winning bets last quarter included Upstart and SentinelOne. Loeb expects a near-term economic boom, but predicted a surge in bad debts. See more stories on Insider’s business page. Billionaire investor Dan Loeb praised special-purpose acquisition companies […]
Summary List Placement During Elon Musk’s opening monologue as Saturday Night Live host on May 9, he said “I’m making history tonight.” Musk made history in several ways during the show. He is the only person worth $184 billion — making him the second-most richest man in the world — to host. He is also […]
Summary List Placement GOP Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska on Saturday said he would introduce legislation to grant signing bonuses to new hires, as the latest jobs report on Friday fell far short of expectations. In an email, Sasse said that the proposed National Signing Bonus Act would redirect expanded unemployment benefits, which have been […]
Summary List Placement With a multi-trillion dollar relief package and an escalating vaccine rollout behind him, President Joe Biden and his administration have set their sights on the next big thing: his generational climate, infrastructure, and jobs bonanza. After the swift passage of the American Rescue Plan, it appears that this latest mega-spending bill may […]
Summary List Placement On February 3, Derrick Henderson, 49, was going through his mail when he saw a rent bill addressed to him, saying he owed $2,368. On April 1, the bill increased to $5,788.26. Henderson was surprised, not because he didn’t know his rent was due, but because he thought somebody else was helping […]
Summary List Placement On this week’s episode of “Pitchfork Economics,” Nick Hanauer and David Goldstein talk with Anusar Farooqui, who writes probing analytic essays about economic policy on Substack under the pseudonym Policy Tensor. Farooqui researches and thinks deeply about some of the most complex systems shaping our world today, and he’s not afraid to […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden is a man of the middle class. At least, he’s trying to be. He wants “good jobs, blue-collar jobs, jobs that pay well,” he said in a White House conference at the end of March. And he wants to give the middle class a raise. His two-part infrastructure package, […]
Summary List Placement Inflation. Multitrillion-dollar spending proposals. The Federal Reserve’s rate strategy. The economic recovery in general. There wasn’t a lack of topics to discuss when Insider spoke with Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate and the author of “Arguing With Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future.” Krugman is among the world’s […]
Summary List Placement President Joe Biden promised his Cabinet would be the most diverse in history. Recently released data revealed his progress. After saying he wanted his administration to “look like America” in December last year, the 78-year-old president has mostly succeeded in his plan to diversify the executive branch, according to an analysis by […]
April was supposed to be the month that proved America’s economy had definitively kicked back into full gear. After all, roughly one million jobs were added in March, roughly 40% of the population had achieved vaccination, and key sectors of the economy planned large-scale reopenings. Instead, the U.S. Labor Department reported that a mere 266,000 […]
Summary List Placement Having the least-correct forecast for April payrolls isn’t swaying Aneta Markowska, chief economist at Jefferies. The US added just 266,000 payrolls last month, falling extremely short of the median economist estimate of 1 million jobs. Where experts were anticipating a strong pick-up in hiring through April, data suggests the easing of lockdowns […]
Summary List Placement The motion picture and sound recording industry continues to have a hard time adding jobs and moving closer back to where employment was before the pandemic. April’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was not what economists expected to see. The consensus estimate was for an addition of 1 million […]
Summary List Placement The April payrolls data was largely a massive disappointment, but not entirely. The US economy added only 266,000 jobs last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, far undershooting estimates calling for an increase of 1 million payrolls. The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% from 6%, and a handful of industries […]
Summary List Placement April’s jobs report is a big yikes. The US economy only added 266,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. That’s way less than 1 million, the median estimate for payroll gains by economists surveyed by Bloomberg. While it was the fourth consecutive month of payroll increases, it […]
Summary List Placement The April jobs report came as an unpleasant surprise for many, with job growth numbers far lower than expected and unemployment rising. Nonfarm payrolls rose by just 266,000, falling short of the 1 million forecast by economists. Unemployment rose from 6.0% to 6.1% — the opposite of an expected decline to 5.8%. […]
Summary List Placement The Friday jobs report was a major disappointment, as the US economy added just 266,000 jobs in April despite economists predicting a gain of at least 1 million. But Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said on CNBC that this report should still be celebrated. “I think as we continue to move forward here, hopefully […]
Summary List Placement The Chamber of Commerce called for an end to the $300-per-week federal unemployment benefit on Friday, assailing it as an obstacle to the economic recovery. The influential business group cited April’s dismal jobs report that showed payrolls had not kept up March’s encouraging pace. “The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that […]
Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), a composite index designed to track the housing market and consumer confidence to sell or buy a home, decreased by 2.7 points to 79 in April 2021 after four of the survey’s six components decreased month over month. Notable was the drop in sentiment towards homebuying conditions, which […]
Summary List Placement As comes the recovery, so does inflation. The gradual reopening of the US economy is quickly lifting consumer demand as Americans rush to revive their pre-pandemic habits. The surge in spending has already pushed popular gauges of inflation higher, but experts see price growth accelerating further as the recovery continues. Debates over […]
Summary List Placement A meeting between Bill and Melinda Gates and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2013 left Melinda upset at the relationship between her husband and the financier, as reported by The Daily Beast on Thursday. Sources told the outlet that her soon-to-be ex-husband’s friendship with Epstein — who had already pleaded guilty […]
It’s no surprise that borrowers’ credit scores are a vital component to homeownership. That three-digit number determines a person’s financial worthiness and impacts just how much money they can borrow. However, a new study from real estate tech provider OJO Labs found that there is a staggering gap in credit support and guidance among those […]
Summary List Placement Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday faulted the Biden administration for approving stimulus benefits, and claimed they are hurting the nation’s economic recovery. “We have flooded the zone with checks that I’m sure everybody loves to get, and also enhanced unemployment,” McConnell said from Kentucky. “And what I hear from businesspeople, […]
Summary List Placement In an address in Louisiana, President Joe Biden said the corporate tax rate should be between 25% and 28% — a potential sign of compromise with moderate Democrats. Biden had proposed a 28% corporate tax rate, an increase from its current rate of 21%, to offset his planned infrastructure spending. The rate […]
Home Point Capitol reported $29 billion in origination volume in the first quarter of 2021 and a net income of $149 million, per the company’s earnings report. That origination volume is a 260% increase year over year, said Willie Newman, CEO and president of Home Point Capital, parent company of wholesale lender Homepoint, and up 23% over […]
Summary List Placement With the first 100 days behind him, Joe Biden is entering a new phase of his presidency — one with the capacity to be a lot messier than the initial three months of the administration. The White House is now gearing up to shepherd $4 trillion in new spending plans through the […]
Summary List Placement The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ upcoming jobs report is expected to show strong payroll growth through April as the US reopened. But where most economists see a moderate month-over-month improvement, Aneta Markowska of Jefferies stands out in her bullishness. The median estimate from economists surveyed by Bloomberg for April payroll growth sits […]
Summary List Placement To help Americans struggling during the pandemic, President Joe Biden extended weekly $300 unemployment benefits through September 6 in the stimulus package he signed into law in February. But the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found in a report released Wednesday that the overall unemployment insurance (UI) system needs […]