General World News

The stock market’s inflation fears are overblown as explosive economic growth is primed to create a perfect ‘mix’ for more gains, says a Wall Street chief strategist

Posted on

Summary List Placement The stock market’s inflation fears may be overblown if explosive economic growth comes to fruition to create a perfect “mix” for more gains, according to James Paulsen, Chief Investment Strategist of The Leuthold Group. In a letter to investors on Friday, Paulsen said that although inflation may be on the rise,  that […]

General World News

Health and fitness wearables have boomed during the pandemic — and they’re changing the way we eat, sleep, exercise and drink alcohol

Posted on

Summary List Placement When Adeline Cheng wakes up, she checks the app on her phone that’s synced with the chunky titanium Oura ring she wears to bed. While she slept, the ring measured her breathing, heart rate, body temperature, sleep quality, and movement.   The Oura app displays her “readiness” score, meant to indicate how prepared […]

General World News

Millennial New Yorkers are ditching basements and roommates for luxury apartments at $1,000-plus discounts

Posted on

Summary List Placement $3,200. $3,000. $2,900. Over the past several months, Brett Vergara had been watching rent fall like dominoes for apartments at The Brooklyner, a residential skyscraper that briefly had the title of Brooklyn’s tallest building around a decade ago. Replete with a rooftop deck, floor-to-ceiling views of The Empire State Building, and an […]

General World News

The stock market’s inflation fears are overblown as explosive economic growth is primed to create a perfect ‘mix’ for more gains, says a Wall Street chief strategist

Posted on

Summary List Placement The stock market’s inflation fears may be overblown if explosive economic growth comes to fruition to create a perfect “mix” for more gains, according to James Paulsen, Chief Investment Strategist of The Leuthold Group. In a letter to investors on Friday, Paulsen said that although inflation may be on the rise,  that […]

General World News

The Senate approves a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, drawing another step closer to final passage after turbulent stretch of voting

Posted on

Summary List Placement The Senate approved the $1.9 trillion stimulus legislation on Saturday morning, putting Democrats another step closer to locking down President Joe Biden’s first legislative achievement after a marathon period of voting. The economic aid package heads back to the House for final approval. Republicans were united in their opposition in the 50-49 […]

General World News

America’s crumbling infrastructure has become a global laughingstock. A new government agency could fix it — here’s how.

Posted on

Summary List Placement In this week’s episode of “Pitchfork Economics,” co-host Nick Hanauer points out that the United States doesn’t really have an industrial policy. Other nations intentionally establish suites of economic, regulatory, and fiscal policies which direct their industrial sectors into specific fields, focus manufacturing into new technologies, and discourage harmful corporate behavior such […]

General World News

Texas officials say the state will not reverse $16 billion in electricity overcharges incurred during power outages

Posted on

Summary List Placement Texas officials said they do not plan to reverse an estimated $16 billion in electricity overcharges  incurred during a deep freeze that roiled the state’s power grids and left millions without power last month.  In a meeting on Friday, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCOT) said it will be too challenging […]

General World News

Yellen says the US needs to ‘go big’ with stimulus package, in contrast to Republicans who are deeply critical of the growing national debt

Posted on

Summary List Placement The US treasury secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said the US government needed to “go big” with its coronavirus stimulus relief.  Yellen spoke in favor of President Joe Biden’s planned $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which is working its way through Congress.  “Well, it’s a big package, but I think that we need […]

General World News

Elon Musk would have paid $4.6 billion in 2020 under Warren’s wealth tax proposal, data shows

Posted on

Summary List Placement Elon Musk would have paid $4.6 billion in 2020 under proposals for an “ultra-millionaire” tax, data from tax groups shows. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts proposed the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act Monday. It would apply an annual 2% tax on individual net worth between $50 million and $1 billion, or 3% on net worth above […]

General World News

Senate Democrats broker last-minute deal on unemployment benefits, clearing major hurdle for $1.9 trillion stimulus plan

Posted on

Summary List Placement Senate Democrats brokered a deal on Friday evening on unemployment benefits, clearing a major barrier for the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. It potentially sets up final vote on the relief legislation sometime on Saturday. Two Democratic aides told Insider that the new plan would provide $300 in federal unemployment benefits through September […]

General World News

What to do about the appraiser shortage

Posted on

What a two-year stretch it has been for appraisers. The appraisal workforce was already in decline in 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the industry’s workforce shrank even further. To compound matters, homebuyer demand skyrocketed thanks to historically-low mortgage rates and societal changes. These factors combined to throw the appraisal industry in flux. […]

General World News

Stimulus ‘vote-a-rama’ stalls out in the Senate out over clash on unemployment benefits in relief package

Posted on

Summary List Placement The Senate kicked off a “vote-a-rama” on Friday with a vote on the $15-per-hour minimum wage, but the proceedings quickly stalled out because of a clash over unemployment benefits in the Democratic relief package. Senate Democrats made a last-minute change to the relief bill, reducing the federal unemployment benefit to $300-per-week instead […]

General World News

The February jobs report shows Americans are eager for a full reopening

Posted on

Summary List Placement The February jobs report shows the labor market in reopening rehearsal.  The US added 379,000 nonfarm payrolls last month, handily exceeding the median economist estimate of 200,000 additions. The unemployment rate fell to 6.2% from 6.3%, labor force participation held steady, and the number of Americans citing COVID-19 for not seeking employment fell […]

General World News

A California city gave some residents $500 per month. After a year, their unemployment rate had dropped, while the control group’s rose.

Posted on

Summary List Placement It’s a decades-old debate: Does paying someone simply for being alive make it easier for them to find a job or discourage them from seeking work?  One city got its answer on Wednesday: A new report evaluated a basic-income pilot in Stockton, California, that gave 125 residents $500 monthly stipends for two […]

General World News

The national debt will nearly double by 2051 if taxing and spending stay the same, CBO says

Posted on

Summary List Placement The federal government’s debt pile is on track to nearly double over the next three decades, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Government debt swelled over the past year as lawmakers passed stimulus bills aimed at helping Americans through the COVID-19 recession. The increased spending led federal debt to reach […]

General World News

Treasury Department invests $9 billion in low-income and minority communities

Posted on

Summary List Placement To help the people who have struggled the most during COVID-19, the US Treasury Department announced a $9 billion investment on Thursday in programs to support low-income and minority communities. The Treasury Department opened applications for the Emergency Capital Investment Program, which, according to a press release, is designed to help communities […]

General World News

Cryptocurrencies are attractive as a ‘small part’ of any portfolio, former Prudential Financial chief says

Posted on

Summary List Placement Former Prudential Financial CEO George Ball told Yahoo Finance on Thursday that he believes cryptocurrencies are “attractive” as a “small part” of any portfolio. Until recently, the chairman and CEO of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris had long been a critic of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In a video call with Reuters […]

General World News

FHFA extends multifamily forbearance through June 30

Posted on

Multifamily property owners who are struggling to make mortgage payments due to the coronavirus pandemic now have a reprieve through the end of June for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced on Friday. Forbearance options for multifamily mortgages backed by the GSEs were set to expire on Mar. 31, but the FHFA has […]

General World News

UWM to block brokers working with Fairway and Quicken

Posted on

United Wholesale Mortgage, the top wholesale lender in the nation, announced on a Facebook live Thursday that it will no longer partner with brokers who also work with Rocket Mortgage and Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of UWM, gave brokers and owners a deadline of March 15 to sign an addendum […]

General World News

Tech stocks’ market leadership may be over and investors aren’t ‘bullish enough about the reopening’, says Fundstrat’s Tom Lee

Posted on

Summary List Placement Tech stocks’ market leadership may be fading and investors aren’t “bullish enough about the reopening,” according to Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. Lee made an appearance on CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Wednesday. In the interview, he said he sees tech stocks’ market leadership fading as the post-pandemic reopening gets underway. “I think tech’s leadership, […]

General World News

CFPB delay of QM rule implementation is a terrible move

Posted on

As reported yesterday, The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a notice of proposed rule-making that would “delay the mandatory compliance date of the general qualified mortgage rule 15 months to Oct. 1, 2022.” The bureau said: “extending the mandatory compliance date of the general QM final rule would allow lenders more time to offer QM […]

General World News

For the first time since July, mortgage rates pass 3%

Posted on

The average mortgage rate for a 30-year fixed loan rose 5 basis points last week to 3.02%, marking the first time since July that the industry has seen rates break above 3%, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Since reaching a low point in January, mortgage rates have risen by more than 30 basis points as the […]

General World News

Senators move to make State Department internships paid

Posted on

Summary List Placement Unpaid internships have come under renewed scrutiny in recent days, as discourse has swirled online over their potential for exploitation and inequity. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even weighed in with a tweet on Monday, writing: “Pay your interns! It’ll improve your operation and make it more diverse and just.” Now, Sens. Cory Booker […]

General World News

David Stevens and Kris Kully to speak at Spring Summit

Posted on

The regulatory landscape has shifted quickly under President Biden. To discuss just what that means for those in the housing economy, Kris Kully, a partner at Mayer Brown, and David Stevens, the former CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association, will speak on a panel titled A New Regulatory Regime, at HousingWire’s virtual Spring Summit on March 4. […]

General World News

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blasts Democrats’ last-minute compromise on stimulus checks as an ‘own-goal’

Posted on

Summary List Placement Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned “conservative” Democratic senators who pushed their party to limit eligibility for a new set of $1,400 stimulus checks under President Joe Biden’s relief package.  Biden has endorsed the proposal for quicker phaseouts for the $1,400 stimulus checks to prevent people who earn higher incomes from getting a third […]

General World News

Republicans are balking at how much state aid is in Biden’s stimulus, but Democrats maintain it’s necessary for a full recovery

Posted on

Summary List Placement President Joe Biden wants to pump billions of federal stimulus into state and local governments as part of his $1.9 trillion package. But state tax revenues for 2020 were surprisingly healthy. A JP Morgan survey called 2020 “virtually flat” with 2019 with regard to tax revenues for 47 states that reported their […]

General World News

Billionaire Leon Cooperman confirms the wealth-tax implementation problem: rich people will hide assets

Posted on

Summary List Placement Billionaire Leon Cooperman told CNBC’s Squawk Box that Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax has “no merit” and is “foolish.” He also revealed the real attitude among the wealthy and why critics say such a tax has implementation problems: the 1% would hide their assets. Sen. Warren and several progressives introduced the […]

General World News

The Bank of England says it will make its $28 billion corporate bond-buying scheme greener – as climate change moves up the agenda

Posted on

Summary List Placement The Bank of England is set to tweak its $28 billion corporate bond program to make it greener. The UK government told the Bank on Wednesday that it should take climate change into account. Campaigners have criticized the Bank’s bond-buying for funding big polluters. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 […]

General World News

The UK government’s COVID-19 pandemic support reaches $568 billion after Rishi Sunak pledges an additional $90 billion in fiscal spending

Posted on

Summary List Placement Rishi Sunak on Wednesday announced a further £65 billion worth of fiscal measures for the year, bringing the government’s total support aimed at recovery from COVID-19 to £407 billion. To restore public finances, the UK government hiked the rate of corporation tax from 19% to 25%. Sunak’s tax move could encourage higher […]

General World News

Mortgage applications recover as winter storms pass

Posted on

Mortgage applications recovered slightly from last week, increasing 0.5% for the week ending Feb. 26, 2021 according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association. A giant dip in applications was reported following the devastating winter storms in Texas the week of Feb. 8, but a week of normalized weather brought numbers back up, […]

General World News

Here’s how much tax Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg would pay under Warren’s proposed wealth tax

Posted on

Summary List Placement US billionaires would have paid $114 billion between them in 2020 under an “ultra-millionaire” tax proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Monday, according to two tax groups. The bill, called the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, would apply an annual 2% tax on individuals with net worths between $50 million and $1 […]

General World News

Biden hit with first Cabinet defeat as White House withdraws Neera Tanden nomination for budget chief

Posted on

Summary List Placement President Joe Biden was hit with his first cabinet defeat on Tuesday as his pick to oversee the White House budget office withdrew from consideration after generating resistance from a key conservative Democrat and a group of moderate Republican senators. “I have accepted Neera Tanden’s request to withdraw her name from nomination […]

General World News

Johnson, Brummer appointed to Fannie Mae board

Posted on

Fannie Mae announced today the appointment of Simon Johnson and Christopher Brummer to its board of directors, as well as the extension of Robert Hertz’s board term for another three years. Fannie CEO Hugh Frater said Johnson and Brummer bring “deep economic, regulatory, and business expertise,” and Board Chairwoman Sheila Bair said the duo are […]

General World News

Alex Kutsishin to speak at Spring Summit

Posted on

Alex Kutsishin, CEO & co-founder of Sales Boomerang, will speak at HousingWire’s virtual Spring Summit on March 4, diving into what a two-year study reveals about the importance of borrower retention. To protect business in a competitive market, industry leaders need a 360-degree, real-time view of customers’ changing circumstances, so lenders can identify opportunities the […]