Education, Articles and Videos
Please choose any of the following articles below that interest you. Each article is listed under the month it was written. Articles written in prior months may still have educational interest.
How Lending Standards Affect Consumers – Finance & Lending Overview
Even before the pandemic materialized, banks and finance companies were already starting to tighten lending standards. The low rate environment for the months leading up...
IRS Sets Later Date To Accept Returns – Tax Planning
The IRS announced that it will not start accepting individual tax returns for tax year 2020 until February 12. A law passed by Congress in...
What People Are Doing With Their Stimulus Payments – Consumer Behavior
Surveys done each week by the U.S. Census Bureau are detailing what Americans are doing with their stimulus payments. Data gathered from various stimulus recipients...
Volatility Returns To Markets – Domestic Equity Update
Equity indexes were nearly unchanged in January following volatility that drove prices higher and lower throughout the month. Market performance for prior Januarys have historically...
Macro Economic Overview
Speculative trading among smaller retail investors raised concerns about how social media is influencing individual stock valuations. Recently popularized social news aggregation and discussion websites...
February 2021 / Market Indexes
(all values as of 01.29.2021) Stock Indexes: Dow Jones 29,982 S&P 500 3,714 Nasdaq 13,070 Bond Sector Yields: 2 Yr Treasury 0.11% 10 Yr Treasury...
Workers Hesitant To Quit During Pandemic – Worker Confidence
Confidence among workers to freely leave and quit their current job has historically been an indicator of the current condition of the labor market. As...
Higher Laptop Sales In Europe
Work habits and patterns have not only changed in the United States but have also been altered in Europe, where work at home has become...
Consumers Expect Inflation To Rise – Inflationary Pressures
Even though traditional government data has current inflation at 1.2%, consumers have a different perspective with higher inflation expectations. The Federal Reserve Bank of New...
Consumers Using Credit To Spend – Consumer Credit
Spending at stores essentially stalled in late March and April, as restrictions imposed to confront the spread of COVID-19 took its toll on the retail...