General World News

Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman on inflation, Modern Monetary Theory, and why government underspending worries him

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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 […]

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How Biden’s historically diverse administration plans to improve workforce diversity and economic equity

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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 […]

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What a dismal jobs report means for the housing market

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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 […]

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The economist who was off by 1.8 million in Friday’s jobs report explains why she’s doubling down on her call for stellar job growth

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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 […]

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The April jobs report shows women are still struggling

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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%. […]

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The Chamber of Commerce calls for an end to $300 federal unemployment benefits after April’s lackluster jobs report

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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 […]

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Fannie Mae: Consumers still wary of housing market

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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 […]

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Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman details the indicators he’s watching for the first signs of an inflation shock

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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 […]

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Melinda Gates was upset and uncomfortable after she and Bill Gates met with Jeffrey Epstein, The Daily Beast reports

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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 […]

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The odds are stacked against homebuyers with lower credit

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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 […]

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Mitch McConnell claims Biden’s stimulus benefits are setting back the economic recovery

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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, […]

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Home Point Capital reports decrease in 1Q revenue

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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 […]

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‘What is everybody else not seeing?’ One top economist details why Friday’s jobs report will double the average forecast — and explains why she’s comfortable being an outlier

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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 […]

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America’s safety net only aids 3 out of 10 unemployed workers without a permanent fix, study finds

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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 […]

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More renters and homeowners are making payments

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Fewer than 5 million households failed to make their rent or mortgage payments in March 2021, an improvement from December 2020 and the lowest number since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a first quarter 2021 report released by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The study, which surveyed over 8,000 households and was dubbed […]

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Mortgage rates remain under 3% for third week in a row

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For the third consecutive week, mortgage rates managed to remain under 3%, dropping three basis points last week to an average of 2.96%, according to Freddie Mac‘s PMMS. Despite consistent forecasts of a market with rising rates, the 30-year fixed rate mirrored more closely numbers borrowers saw back in February. Sam Khater, Freddie Mac’s chief […]

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US weekly jobless claims fall below 500,000 for the first time since pandemic lockdowns began

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Summary List Placement Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as the gradual reopening of the economy continued to heal the US labor market. New jobless claims totaled an unadjusted 498,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday morning, coming in below the median estimate of 538,000 claims from economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The […]

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If you were overpaid unemployment insurance, the Biden administration says you should be able to keep some

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Summary List Placement When COVID-19 hit the United States, millions of Americans were thrown out of work — some 14 million between February and May 2020 alone — with claims for unemployment following in kind. Governments, and applicants, made mistakes: according to a recent report, states ended up doling out $6.2 billion in overpayments. Now […]

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LoanDepot gaining market share as profits narrow

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Retail powerhouse loanDepot continued to gain market share in the first quarter of 2021 despite tumbling profit margins. And its leadership believes that its scale will enable it to weather any storm better than its competitors as interest rates continue to rise. Closed loan volume in the first quarter increased to $41.5 billion from $37.4 […]

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Brian Covey to speak at Engage Marketing June 17

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A good brand isn’t just for companies. Mortgage professionals have their own stories to tell, their own goals to reach and their own set of skills to share. In today’s online environment, personal branding is a growing expectation to grow community. That’s why we’ve invited vice president of regional production at loanDepot Brian Covey to […]

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Kavison Homes partners with New American Funding

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Las Vegas-based builder Kavison Homes has struck up a joint-venture with mortgage lender New American Funding on a new luxury community in Downtown Las Vegas, The Pines in John South Park. The Pines is the brainchild of Kavison Homes owner Todd Stratton, who said homes in the first phase of the community will cost an […]

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Biden launches a fiery defense of his tax hikes: ‘This is about making the average multimillionaire pay just a fair share’

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Summary List Placement While answering questions after a Wednesday address on the impact of the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden doubled down on his tax proposals and the need for wealthier Americans and corporations to pay their fair share — and took aim at prior Republican tax cuts. “My Republican friends had no problem […]

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The Biden administration opened a new relief fund for restaurants. 186,200 applied in 2 days.

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Summary List Placement A $28.6 billion restaurant aid program received 186,200 applications in its first two days, according to the White House.  Bars, restaurants, and other eligible businesses could start applying for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) on May 3. The initiative is part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, and provides […]

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A federal judge scrapped a nationwide moratorium on evictions, saying the CDC went beyond its authority

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Summary List Placement A US federal judge on Wednesday blocked an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent landlords from evicting their tenants during the coronavirus pandemic. “The CDC order must be set aside,” US District Judge Dabney Friedrich said in a 20-page ruling. The order was initially announced on September […]

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Fannie and Freddie set dates for their new refi option

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency didn’t have a set date for its new refi option targeted to low-income borrowers when it announced the program last week. But on Wednesday, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced release dates for their versions of the refi product. Fannie Mae’s RefiNow option will be available June 5, while […]

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Biden’s American Families Plan will cost $700 billion more than White House estimates, report finds

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Summary List Placement President Joe Biden unveiled his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan last week, which focuses on funding for childcare, education, and healthcare. Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) predicted that his plan will actually cost $2.5 trillion over ten years while raising $1.3 trillion in tax revenue. In a report released on Wednesday, PWBM […]

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As rates rise, mortgage applications dip

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Mortgage applications dropped again, falling 0.9% from the previous week, according to the latest report from the Mortgage Bankers Association for the week ending April 30, 2021. MBA’s Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting Joel Kan called last week’s mortgage activity “a mixed bag,” between rates, loan sizes, and government purchase applications. “Mortgage […]

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85% of small businesses were fully open in March, report finds

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Summary List Placement Small businesses, battered by the pandemic, are flinging their doors back open: 85% were fully open in March 2021, a sizable uptick from the 57% who were open in February.  That’s according to a survey of 550 small businesses from Kabbage, an American Express company. The businesses surveyed ranged from the smallest […]

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Mortgage complaints hit three-year-high, CFPB says

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In April, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned the industry of its plans to keep a much closer eye on servicers as they transition borrowers out of forbearance. On Tuesday, a report from the government watchdog may have just kicked up the incentive. According to the report, in March 2021, consumers submitted more mortgage complaints […]

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The pandemic ruined the homeownership dream for a quarter of millennials, BofA survey finds

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Summary List Placement Homeownership dreams are fading for some millennials. Nearly a quarter (24%) of 20- and 30-somethings said the pandemic has decreased the likelihood they’ll buy a house, according to Bank of America Research’s sixth annual millennial home improvement survey, which polled over 1,000 members of the generation. That’s slightly more than those who […]

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says higher interest rates may be needed so economy doesn’t ‘overheat’

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Summary List Placement Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is among the country’s most experienced economic policy experts. A veteran of the Clinton and Obama administrations, Yellen has long been characterized as an economist closely associated with the center-left. That changed after the slow recovery from the Great Recession saw her transform into an ultra-dove, urging stimulus to […]