Unemployment & Foreign Purchases are Down

Last week’s fillings for jobless benefits were the lowest they have been since the Coronavirus hit in March. While this news feels good, we are nowhere near the end as even this low figure is more than 5X jobless claims pre COVID. Legislators are split on how to continue this downward trend. Some believe that the unemployed need every dollar they can get while others claim that we will see unemployment begin to rise by disincentivizing workers if additional stimulus is passed.

Data showing the amount of US residential properties purchased by foreign buyers was released showing a decline for the second straight year – a 5% decline from 2019 to 2020. Many cite a combination of less foreign travel, less international trade and the current housing shortage as the reason for the decline.

Stocks are slightly up this morning; however, the markets fastest growing brokerage is under scrutiny. Large amounts of people stuck at home during quarantine or out of work have turned to the market for another stream of income. Robinhood, an online based consumer direct trading platform, is taking heat for allowing large amounts of people (3 million new users YTD) with little trading experience to make risky bets starting with a minimal amount of money. Critics claim that Robinhood execs have a naive viewpoint on the effect its inexperienced users have on the market as a whole.

Mortgage backed securities are up today and still trading in the range they were yesterday. We maintain a locking bias.