Financial Literacy

• Survey data suggest a pre-pandemic gap in financial knowledge of women that is especially concerning as they are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic’s financial strain. (Phys.org)

Economics

• The IMF director warns that the coronavirus could disrupt any global recovery during a meeting with G20. (APNews)
• Initial unemployment claims back on the upswing last week for the first time in 35 weeks. (AP News) Here is Morning Brew’s summary of the situation:

3 million:U.S. workers receiving unemployment benefits at the end of October

10 million:jobs the economy has lost since the pandemic started

35:consecutive weeks that initial jobless claims have been worse than at the peak of the Great Recession

….and Cares act programs aimed at helping the unemployed expire December 26. 

• How is your state doing in terms of unemployment?

• Mnuchin announced he will not extend the Fed’s emergency lending programs past year end. (NYT)
• The housing market is still booming. (Yahoo Finance)

Investing

• Wealth of Common Sense describes how historic this year’s market performance has been, ending in positive (record breaking?) territory after a 30% drop.
• IPOs in coming weeks include AirBnB and Roblox.
• Tesla stock hits all-time intraday high ahead of joining S&P 500. (CNBC)
• Amazon is now trying to disrupt the pharmacy business. (Forbes)

Careers (Minimum Wage)

• Florida voted to increase the minimum wage to $15/hour. How many more states will follow? (Bloomberg2)
• Starbucks isn’t waiting for minimum wage legislation to raise wages by 10% for most employees, hoping to retain staff. (CNBC)
• Where does your state stand on minimum wage?

Student Loans

Forbes’ Adam Minsky offers advice on handling student loans come January.

Budget/Pandemic trends

Google Pay relaunch will allow you to do more than just paying for stuff. (The Verge)

New shopping habits, like fewer but larger purchases, may be here to stay. (Bloomberg)

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