In the state of Texas, hospitalizations for the virus are up 42% since Memorial Day. The state of Arizona just issued a warning that they’re getting close to full capacity in their hospitals. Many states that have reopened are experiencing surges of cases and deaths, along similar trajectories of the spikes seen in the early […]

The Federal Reserve made it clear today that rates aren’t going anywhere anytime soon and that the current “stabilization” aka quantitative easing measures now in place for the bond and cash markets are also not going away. They did acknowledge that conditions have improved (aka, stocks went back up). Here’s Peter Boockvar: Both the bond […]

Wall Street Journal: The May U.S. jobless rate fell to 13.3% and employers added 2.5 million jobs, early signs the labor market is mending after the coronavirus pandemic shut down parts of the economy nearly three months ago. “These improvements in the labor market reflected a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March […]

“We are overreacting because if it looks like you’re overreacting, you’re probably doing the right thing.” That’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci on Sunday, March 15th. He is, of course, speaking about the health crisis, but I think there is an investment and business corollary to this that is important […]

One way in which the current recession looks nothing like the last one is that businesses have been a lot more affected financially than households. This is due to the extraordinary stimulus and rescue packages that came out of the government to a) keep people employed b) offer increased unemployment benefits c) announce forbearance initiatives […]

[embedded content] Josh here – a few months back, Troy Prince came by the office to chat informally about the not-for-profit he’s been building, Wall Street Bound. As someone who had spent years as a trader for some of the largest firms in the world, Troy understood better than most how difficult it is for […]

I’m doing a lot more listening and almost no talking this week given what’s going on in this country. Two things I wanted to share, related to the mass demonstrations across America, deal with the fact that economic realities are often the underlying causes for social injustice. Why does one population get policed one way, […]

Barry Ritholtz: I am past due to clear up some confusion and misinformation about our decision to participate in the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP). This is simple and straightforward, unless you are committed to misunderstanding it. PPP (The Big Picture) Max Schatzow (Stark & Stark): Investment advisors did not have a crystal ball when making […]

There are a lot of people, apparently, who don’t understand that when a business owner takes a loan, they are personally on the hook for that loan. And if there is a forgiveness feature, as is the case with the Payroll Protection Program, that forgiveness feature has to be applied for and approved. And if […]