The New York Times will be free to high school students and teachers through September 2021, sign up here!. During this time, expect to see a few more articles from the NYT than you have been seeing in the reading list.

Pandemic

• One vaccine (Pfizer) is being administered as I type, as a second one (Moderna) is about to receive emergency authorization. Great news! But watch out for vaccine scams! (WAPO)
• Not only are female workers taking a disproportionate hit to income during the pandemic, their retirements are also in jeopardy. (NYT)
• According to a Logica Research Survey, Americans have adopted new money behaviors due to the pandemic.

Economics

• The Fed held its final FOMC for the year this week. As expected, it held interest rates steady. Also announced was an increase in bond purchases. Read the entire story here. (NBC News)
• Check out this comprehensive economic recap from the NYT with nine economic indicator charts that tell the story of where we are.
• New unemployment claims (seasonally adjusted) rise for the second week in a row, and the prior week’s numbers were adjusted upward. (DOL) When looking at the drop in continuing claims, remember that are nine months into the pandemic, and unemployment benefits drop after six months. (APNews)
• I’ve typed these words multiple times this year, but mortgage rates reach record low, spurring a surge in home buying and refinancing! (CNN)

Investing

• Robinhood fined by SEC for misleading customers with inferior trading prices. (FORBES)
• IPO pricing has been crazy. Is the IPO market “broken?” (Morning Brew)
• Seems fitting as a pandemic winner that Peloton should enter the Nasdaq 100. (CNBC)
• As Tesla heads to the S&P 500, its stock price reaches a P/ of 175!!! (Yahoo Finance)

Taxes (Economics/Pandemic)

• Here is an interesting and surprising view of the financial health of states’ revenues through this pandemic. See where all fifty states sit relative to 2019. Find your state and consider how progressive your income tax is, and the impact of the shift from services to goods on sales tax revenues. (NYT)

Cryptocurrency

• Bitcoin hit another new record high this week. (Forbes)
• In fact, bitcoin passed $23,000 this week (remember the low for the year was $5000), as CoinBase (largest US cryptocurrency exchange) contemplates a 2021 IPO. (CNBC)

Miscellaneous

• Will this ruin TikTok for you and your students? After talk earlier in the year of Walmart investing in TikTok, Walmart announced it is about to launch a pilot test of livestreamed video shopping on the platform. (TechCrunch)
• Here is another link between financial and physical health: missing credit card payments can be an early sign of dementia. (CNN)

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