Cryptocurrency

• What goes up, must come down. Just last week we posted about bitcoin reaching a record high. This week it turned south. (CoinDesk) And many people are scrambling to find the password to their digital wallet to cash out! (NYT)

Economics

• Not a lot of good economic news this week: 
• New unemployment claims jumped back up to the million mark last week. (Yahoo Finance) (NYT)
• Lael Brainard estimates the unemployment rate for the lowest paid workers is likely north of 20% (CNBC)
• The December budget deficit hit a record $144 billion. (Reuters)
• Retail sales drop for the third consecutive month. (NYT)

Investing/Company News

• Airbnb was “born” around the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. (NYT) But for the Biden inauguration, Airbnb is halting/cancelling all DC area reservations. (AP News)
•  Walmart getting into yet another line of business….fintech! (CNBC)
• Online installment lender Affirm’s IPO follows a similar path to other recent IPOs. (Yahoo Finance) Think about the pandemic’s impact on this company/business concept.
• WeWork was in dire straits merely months ago, but the pandemic actually brought it back to life. (Vox)

Behavioral Finance/Budgeting

• This experimental program in Vancouver appears to be an effective (and cost effective) way to end homelessness. Comparison to traditional programs raises many behavioral finance concepts. (Reasons to be Cheerful)

Careers

• The WSJ (subscription) Future of Everything column has great data on what the employment picture will look like in 8-9 years. Health Care and Tech may be no surprise, but think about how many people got pets during the pandemic?

Pandemic News

• The private sector jumps in to help with vaccine distribution. The latest is the offer from the hotel industry. (Fox News)

Taxes

• The IRS announced that the start of the tax season (when they will start accepting returns) is delayed by two weeks. (Forbes)

NGPF in the news

• NGPF's partnership with NearPod and development of ready to go lessons on NearPod makes the news. PRNewswire

About the Author