crisis

Coronavirus crisis will reveal which startups are ‘houses of cards’: Fast Company Editor-in-Chief

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Layoffs at high-profile tech giants like Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) grabbed headlines in recent weeks, though the novel coronavirus has also decimated the next generation of aspiring unicorns, forcing some to close permanently.

Some promising ventures may succumb to unfortunate circumstances, but the economic crisis also reveals which early-stage companies can draw on the effective leadership and sustainable business model necessary to weather a downturn, says Stephanie Mehta, the editor-in-chief of business publication Fast Company.

“We’re going to see the companies that actually have real business plans and real models that will be able to sustain them on the other side,” says Mehta, in a newly released interview, taped on April 27.

“For a lot of them, we’re going to see which ones were just, to mix my metaphors, which were houses of cards.”

“The worry I have without necessarily being able to look at any one company’s

… Read More

Fed gets ‘good marks’ on crisis response

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Despite grilling Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell on the central bank’s corporate bond purchases earlier this week, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) says the Fed gets “good marks” for its response to the economic crisis spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We need to follow very carefully what the Fed and the Treasury are doing,” Toomey told Yahoo Finance on Thursday. “But I think so far, they have complied with the law and I think so far it looks like it’s been successful.”

On Tuesday, Toomey pressed Powell on the Fed’s efforts to backstop the corporate debt market by purchasing corporate bond ETFs and, as of this week, individual corporate bonds in the secondary market. Responding to the Republican’s concerns that the purchases may “diminish price signals” in the market, Powell said the Fed is trying to ensure that markets continue to function properly.

“I don’t see us as wanting to run

… Read More

The Fed suggests the worst of this crisis is over: Morning Brief

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Get the Morning Brief sent directly to your inbox every Monday to Friday by 6:30 a.m. ET. 

Subscribe

But that the road to recovery remains very long and challenging.

For over a month now, we’ve heard from economists and strategists that the worst of the pandemic-induced economic downturn may be over.

And the Federal Reserve on Wednesday said that they, too, see this as a possibility.

“The coronavirus outbreak is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world,” the Fed said in its latest policy statement published Wednesday. “The virus and the measures taken to protect public health have induced sharp declines in economic activity and a surge in job losses.” (Emphasis added.)

In April, the Fed’s statement read: “The virus and the measures taken to protect public health are inducing sharp declines in economic activity and a surge in

… Read More

Retail investor boom during coronavirus crisis ‘unnerving,’ may be stimulus driven

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Billionaire bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach believes the retail investor boom is “unnerving” given the ongoing coronavirus crisis, but it may help explain the historic rally in recent weeks that’s left institutional investors on the sidelines. 

“There’s something really unnerving that’s going on in this rally,” which hit its trough on March 23, Gundlach said on Tuesday during a webcast for the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund (DBLTX). “And that seems to be driven by a lot kind of rampant speculation.”

The investor pulled up a chart showing retail investor behavior from Robinhood — the free trading app popular amongst millennials. The data showed a spike in investor accounts during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Elsewhere, online brokerage accounts from e-Trade and Interactive Brokers have also seen an explosion in new users during lockdowns. 

As it happens, the rise in new accounts coincides with the government stimulus checks sent out as part of

… Read More

The American teacher crisis is getting rapidly worse amid coronavirus pandemic

By Tommy Flemm 1 year ago

Tom Rossiter got the official notice on June 1.

The 33-year-old teacher, who taught seventh and eighth grade math in Rochester City, New York, was told that he was being let go at the end of the school year. His school district had been struggling with a $150 million budget deficit since December, and the coronavirus pandemic put the final nail in the coffin.

“It’s completely unfair and unjust to take financial problems of adults and put this on our children,” Rossiter said in an interview with Yahoo Finance.

Rossiter’s plight is mirrored across the country. America already had a teacher shortage going into 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic made the issue much, much worse.

McAuliffe International School seventh grade teacher Margaret Flynn reacts during a rally in Civic Center Park as Denver public school teachers strike for a second day in Denver, Colorado, U.S., February 12, 2019. (photo: REUTERS/Michael

… Read More